Tidal are raising their prices within the US. Originally, their HiFi subscription plan sat at $9.99 per month, and will now be rising by $1.00.
Tidal are raising their HiFi subscription cost from $9.99 to $10.99 per month. This has come after many other streaming platforms have raised their prices. Some have raised theirs more than others. However, despite this cost raising in the US, it doesn’t look like other countries will be let off either. The increase will be happening across multiple countries.
Apple Music, Amazon Music and Deezer have all increased their subscription costs recently for their basic subscription. Spotify have also raised prices across multiple territories. In theory, the recent increase to Tidal isn’t a lot of money. However, it doesn’t look like streaming stores will stop at just one increase. More seem likely.
Warner Music Group’s chief financial officer has asked for multiple increases over time, rather than just the one increase. He claims this will match other markets such as cable TV and video streaming platforms. This might be the case, but can users afford constant increases? Will there be a point where enough is enough?
Streaming stores see inflation
Inflation has hit everyone worldwide, but with so much increasing, it would be nice for some things to remain the same – for as long as they can. Many will soon have to choose one form of entertainment, which might not sound damaging but could be. For those who already do not have much, the little things like TV and music are important.
Taking their resources away just to simply earn more money without the need to do so seems unfair. However, with that being said, there are a lot of free alternatives. Perhaps more and more users will turn to the free alternatives as the increase in costs no longer make premium accounts seem worth it.
Will music stores therefore see users switching to free accounts and dropping their premium services? Wouldn’t that do more damage to the company than simply keeping their prices low? Yes, there’s a rising cost worldwide, but to plan to continue raising prices seems no more than a money making scheme for the companies themselves.
Eventually, it’s hoped that the inflation across markets will plateau. Will streaming stores still be increasing their prices then? More importantly, with these increases, will the creators see any more money, because if not, what are the users paying towards? Perhaps people would welcome increases if it meant creators would see more of the money.
