YouTube Premium’s legacy price breaks are going away for more users

YouTube's premium subscriptions are becoming more expensive for longtime subscribers who are using older plans in more regions. In December, YouTube told U.S. subscribers who were on older YouTube Premium plans (either the now-defunct Google Play Music or YouTube Red services) would have to start paying the current $13.99 monthly fee in the new year. 

European YouTube Music users have also posted emails announcing a price increase. As in the US, some have reported getting an extra three months at the current price before the hike.

Paul Pennington, YouTube's head of communications, confirmed that the price increases are for both YouTube Premium, which removes ads from streaming videos and includes access to the music service, and YouTube Music's standalone plans:

The original Redditor said this is the legacy plan of a Google Play Music subscription that started before YouTube Music launched (as YouTube Music Key in 2014 with a monthly fee of $7.99 in the US), which led to their merger and the closure of Google Play Music. Now their monthly subscription fee in Spain will increase from €7.99 to €10.99, which is still less than the rate for new subscribers to the individual music subscription, which is €12.99.