In a move that’s sure to cause some exodus from the service, YouTube Premium accounts are about to cost even more in Australia. It wasn’t that long ago, that accounts went from around AU$20 (officially AU$22.99 but I was on a now grandfathered plan) to AU$32.99. Now, users face a further 21% increase to $39.99, with the service notifying users:
“To continue delivering great service and features, we’re increasing your price to A$39.99/month. We don’t make these decisions lightly, but this update will allow us to continue to improve Premium and support the creators and artists you watch on YouTube.“
Now, like everyone else, I don’t get a 21% pay rise each year (but if you like my work, make sure you let Djuro know!) so a service increasing costs by this much made me shop around. Unfortunately, because my wife watches a lot of YouTube and frankly taking away premium (adding adverts) would probably be detrimental to my health. So while it’s frustrating, I have to also commend YouTube for hitting a price point that means connecting a family account on other music streaming services, plus a single user YouTube Premium account will only safe a few dollars a month at best.
The price increase is said to be ensuring that the service quality and features continue to improve. As someone who knows a few artists, I hope that the price increase will also increase the per-stream pay to artists for their work.
