According to a new report from Digital Music News, Apple is considering a price cut to its Apple Music streaming service. The report claims that Apple is considering a price cut as steep as 20 percent, which would allow the company to better compete with services like Spotify and Amazon Music.
With a 20 percent discount, the single-person Apple Music plan would come in at $7.99 per month, which is $2 less than the current $9.99 price point. The family package, which allows for up to six people, currently comes in at $14.99, but with the price cut would come in at $12.99. The $4.99 student tier would remain the same.
Here’s how the new plans would look compared to the old ones:
Current Rate:
- Single-person rate: $9.99 a month
- Family rate: $14.99 a month
- Student rate: $4.99 a month
Rumored discounted rate:
- Regular rate: $7.99 a month
- Family package: $12.99 a month
- Student rate: $4.99 a month
Today’s report claims that the price cut could start out as a holiday promotional discount, with those subscribing prior to Christmas seeing the lower prices. It’s not entirely clear if the lower prices would extend past the holiday season, but Digital Music News seems to imply that they would.
Amazon recently announced its new Music Unlimited Service, which comes in at $7.99 per month for Prime users and $3.99 for users with an Amazon Echo device. Spotify has also offered heavy discounts to its services.
Today’s report should be taken with a grain of salt, though. Digital Music News hasn’t had the best track record this year. The news outlet reported that Apple was planning on ending iTunes Music downloads, which Apple itself denied. The move would also contradict Apple’s general attitude of not competing in terms of prices for its services.
A price drop for Apple Music would certainly help those on the fence pull the plug and subscribe, but Apple would be sure to not have to anger artists and labels in the process of cutting prices, especially considering the initial drama surrounding Apple Music’s three month free trial.
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