Google already hiked prices for some YouTube Music Key and Google Play Music holdovers in the US, and now people in other countries are getting the same message.
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YouTube’s premium subscriptions are about to get more expensive for long-time subscribers with legacy plans in more places. In December, YouTube told US subscribers with legacy YouTube Premium plans (stemming from discontinued services Google Play Music or YouTube Red) they’d need to start paying the current $13.99 per month price in the new year.
YouTube Music users in Europe have posted emails they received announcing a price increase for them, too, and just like the US, some report getting three more months at the current price before the hike.
In an email to The Verge, YouTube communications manager Paul Pennington confirmed prices are increasing for both YouTube Premium, which removes ads on the streaming videos and includes access to the music service, as well as the YouTube Music standalone plans:
We’re updating the price for YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium for new and current subscribers in Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Spain, Finland, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Kuwait, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Uruguay, and Turkey.
Members who signed up originally via Google Play and received early adopter pricing will get three additional months at their current price.
The initial Reddit poster said they were on the legacy plan from a Google Play Music subscription that started before YouTube Music launched (as YouTube Music Key in 2014 with a $7.99 monthly rate in the US), leading to their eventual merger and the shutdown of Google Play Music. Now, their monthly rate as a subscriber in Spain is going up from 7.99 euros to 10.99, which is still less than the rate for new subscribers to the individual music subscription, which is 12.99 euros.
