While Apple announced U.S. pricing of Apple Music at $9.99/month for an individual subscription and $14.99 for a family subscription, its UK and European sites have so far remained silent on pricing. But the latest iOS 8.4 beta appears to confirm that European pricing will be pound and Euro for dollar, individual subscriptions costing £9.99 month in the UK and €9.99 in Eurozone countries.
The premium charged to European customers isn’t quite as bad as it sounds: US pricing doesn’t include sales tax, which varies by state, while UK and Eurozone prices both include VAT. This is in line with normal practice on each continent, US pricing usually shown net of tax while European consumer pricing usually includes VAT. There does, though, remain a significant UK premium …
Within the USA, Apple charges the appropriate sales tax for the registered address of the customer, generally comprising a mix of state/local taxes. Combined sales taxes range from below 0% to close to 10% meaning that the actual price paid by most U.S. citizens is slightly than it appears.
Conversely, within Europe, VAT rates range from 17% in Luxembourg to 27% in Hungary, making the net cost lower than it seems. If Apple applies the €9.99 pricing across the Eurozone, and showed pre-tax costing the way it does in the USA, costs for individual subscriptions in a sprinkling of European countries would look like this:
- Luxembourg: €8.54 ($9.61)
- UK: £8.32 ($13.10)
- Germany: €8.39 ($9.45)
- Hungary: €7.87 ($8.86)
For most European customers, then, it is VAT, not Apple’s pricing, which makes the service more expensive. The exception is the UK (where I happen to live): we’re getting a pretty raw deal even before VAT. Apple’s fondness for neatness is probably to blame there, wanting a uniform 9.99 figure across Europe regardless of currency.
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1) Excellent point on Hungary Ben.
2) No word on New Zealand? As I understand it that country has a serious problematic government when it comes to foreign products and services. Though I have no idea if they are able to get iTunes Match.
3) This €9,99 /m is separate from iTunes Match, right? That would mean, if I ever get my library down to less than the 25k song limit:
10 Match
10 Stream
20 Drive
—
€40 x 12 ≈ € 500 /year
What started as nice-to-have online utilities, this is becoming a thing to calculate in on the balace sheet. Oh well.
Denmark 99,-DKK /149DKK
Where do you see the danish prices?
Apple Music includes iTunes Match-like functionality so no need for Match if you subscribe to Music.
iTunes Match becomes *almost* redundant with an Apple Music subscription (you’d just be missing streaming access the the stuff to which Apple doesn’t have streaming rights, and most of us could either store that music locally or live without it while mobile).
That’s true for the music Apple sells, yes. But not for al the recorded concerts I download from my favourite artists (bootlegs).
It’s not crystal clear from reading their webpage:
http://www.apple.com/nl/music/membership/
How does Apple Music know what songs are in my personal library?
With an Apple Music membership, your entire library lives in iCloud. We compare every track in your collection to the Apple Music library to see if we have a copy. If we do, you can automatically listen to it straight from the cloud. If you have music that’s not in our catalog, we upload those songs from iTunes on your Mac or PC. It’s all in iCloud, so it won’t take up any space on your devices.
And after that they state:
Does Apple Music work with iTunes Match?
Yes. Apple Music and iTunes Match are independent but complementary.
And I was in err on the calculation: iTM is €25 a year (not 10/m x 12 = € 120)
I’m not sure about where you are but in the UK iTunes Match is only £21.99 a year, it’s not a monthly charge.
Did you bother to read the article?
iTunes Match is not iTunes Music.
He’s not talking about the article. He’s answering @PhilBoogie about his yearly calculation of ITunes Match+Apple Music.
You’re right. It’s €25 a year. My mistake.
£9.99 = €13.55
Once again, Apple tries to screw Brits, offering only parity exchange rate.
Today, 1 British £ equals 1.39 €
We’ve always paid more than the US and the rest of Europe for Music CDs, which is odd when you consider a large percentage of it is made here.
” Apple’s fondness for neatness is probably to blame there, wanting a uniform 9.99 figure across Europe regardless of currency.”
Complete tosh.
They want margin not convenience.
If it wanted margin, it would put the Euro price up to match the Sterling one. Note that Apple’s take from many European countries is less than it takes in the USA.
So will Apple allow UK buyers to pay in Euros?
Bluff called!
Hello, we can confirm Apple Music Romania also for 9.99€
http://www.iphone365.ro/apple-music-romania/
Spotify costs 6.99€/month in Portugal (where I live), taxes included. Apple music will cost 9.99€? That’s a big difference! European customers are not going to cancel their Spotify subscription with this prices!! Apple needs to fix this!
Let’s be real, our country doesn’t matter, at least not until carriers continue offering so little data cap, and with deals with Spotify and Meo Music that are illegal.
Ok, our country isn’t a really good example, our phone carriers suck, but i still think other countries won’t subscribe Apple Music for 9,99€! It’s very expensive compared with Spotify!
15€ for all my family and app compatible with Carplay (spotify just does not work) I’m all in! Goodbye Spotify!
$11.99 – $17.99 in Australia.
Is this confirmed, or just a guess?
If confirmed, I assume you mean $11.99 for single subscription and $17.99 for family?
If this is actually the pricing I will be extremely happy.
It seems like Apple is pricing Apple Music exactly in line with spotify in whichever country they launch. Hence 9.99US, 11.99AUD, and 9.99GBP which are not equal but exactly match spotify’s pricing.
To be honest I will go with whoever has the most extensive music catalog, so far Spotify seems to have the largest one. All I do is search for some obscure music and sure enough Spotify has the tunes, but of course they don’t have everything. Now, even if Apple match Spotify extensive catalog I’d rather give my money to Spotify. Apple, like Google and Microsoft before them have become too big and powerful and that is not in consumers best interest long term.
So, if I don’t sign up for this, will I still be able to listen Beats 1 Radio ?
Yes, that is free as long as you are logged in.
Here in Poland, Spotify Premium costs 19.99PLN so ~$5,41 (VAT included). I can hardly see anyone buying Apple Music if it charges so high above that price.
Right, so here’s some conversions …
$9.99 = £6.34 (NOT £9.99)
€9.99 = £7.15 (NOT £9.99)
I’ll be quite plain, if apple is intending to try ripping off the UK customer to this extent then that would be a major deterrent to me.
This kind of deliberate overpricing for the UK market is pretty common but here it too obvious to pass un-noticed and it needs to be ‘outed’
I wrote this earlier. There are other major errors in the article but my comments have now been deleted twice. Presumably because 9to5 don’t like being told they have made a mistake
You appear to have misread the piece if you think it is stating that UK and US pricing are equivalent: “The exception is the UK (where I happen to live): we’re getting a pretty raw deal even before VAT.”
Ben, I’m assuming you read my comments that were deleted and they were much more in depth than this. Several serious mistakes in your article. Why delete the comments?
What mistakes?
Just to be clear about my comment …
I don’t see an error in Ben’ article – I’m disatisfied with apple’s (possible) policy.
With VAT added the fairest conversion rounded up for ‘neatness’ would have been £7.99
£9.99 effectively leaves us paying more than anywhere else for no apparent reason – unless licensing or royalties are significantly more expensive in the UK?
Neatness in the sense of having the same numbers apply to three different currencies.
Frankly I’d take a lower price over “neatness”. As would anyone with a functioning brain.
Agreed, I just meant that X.99 would always be an expected round up.
In Switzerland: CHF 12.- ($12.89) / CHF 16.- ($17.19), both prices including taxes
The pricing is a total joke in the UK.
I have been paying for iTunes Match (which is vastly cheaper than iTunes Music) but Google Music does the same matching stuff the iTunes Match does, costs a rather more attractive £0.
Apple, you have more money than many small countries. How about not being so offensively greedy?
Apple Music Turkey prices: 9,99 TL ($3,66) w/ Family Sharing 14,99 TL ($5,49). Just like Spotify Premium, which is 9,99 TL/month. Source: http://www.elmadergisi.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/apple-music-fiyat-t%C3%BCrkiye-450×800.png
Poland
Apple Music : 9,99 €
Spotify Premium, Tidal, Deezer, WIMP: 19,90 PLN ~ 5,43$
Other services can provide prices in PLN but of course not Apple and obviously in €.
Apple Music HOW ABOUT NO :(
On the screenshot at the top if you look at the bottom it says “when you join we will upload your music to icloud music library so you can listen on all your devices”
1. what is this feature exactly?
2. can you turn this feature off?
3. does this mean all the music on your iTunes music library is uploaded to iCloud including stuff you didn’t purchase from the iTunes store (i have at least 50GB!)
4. does it count towards your iCloud storage?
it does not its just like iCloud Match, if you don’t know what that is look it up, its actually a cool feature if you don’t wanna waste 50Gb on you’re devices
Does anyone know if Music re-uploads my iTunes music library, if it has already done so for iTunes Match?
iTunes Music $9.99 = £6.34 (NOT £9.99). VAT is 20% therefore should be
£7.61 so lets round it up for convenience, £7.99 not £9.99
Total jokers!
Who the frick cares about a £ 2 /m difference? That’s £ 24 per year. Completely irrelevant!
It shows 5,99€ in Slovenia …weird :| http://imgur.com/grDNIzi
“Combined sales taxes range from below 0%”
What you mean some people get tax paid to them? Cool I wanna live in that state!
in Russia, Apple music costs 169 Roubles per month, thats GBP 1.8 at today’s exchange rate. This is also the average price of an album in Russian itunes. The content is the same.
Sorry to bump this, don’t apple treat Apple music as a service and accordingly apply the Irish VAT rate of 23% VAT to all EU customers?