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European Apple Music Pricing

cambookpro

cambookpro

macrumors 604
Original poster
Feb 3, 2010
7,233
3,379
United Kingdom
Not sure if this has been posted, I did do a search but couldn't find it:

http://9to5mac.com/2015/06/17/apple-music-pricing-uk-europe/

Seems like a pretty rotten deal for UK customers, even if the prices are in line with Spotify's. It's ~$3 more per month than the US (and that's before VAT), seemingly just so it's a pretty pattern of pricing in Europe. It's not absolutely masses, but it all adds up and doesn't sit very well when people less than 25 miles away in Europe (OK, so I'm presuming we're all in Dover, but hear me out...) are getting it for substantially less.

Definitely won't be switching as it's not looking likely that there will be student pricing, so I'll stick with my £4.99 Spotify - they just need to hurry up with a Watch app...
 
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In Denmark the price is 100DKK (equivalent to 15.06 USD), so here it is even more expensive. Spotify is the same over here, with no student pricing models.
 
We always get ripped off over here compared to the U.S. We're used to it! If the service is decent I still think it's good value for money and as others have said, it's in keeping with rival services pricing.
I just need to work out whether I actually spend more than £10 a month on music or not! I used to like being a Spotify premium member but I eventually got fed up of it being separate to my iTunes library, so Apple Music could potentially be perfect for me.
 
Don't forget that the US dollar prices do not include sales tax (I believe) and that amount of tax varies from state to state. The UK and EU prices include value added taxes. At the end of the calculation, the price is similar given how much currency rate fluctuate. No rip off, simply a compromise.
 
daio said:
Don't forget that the US dollar prices do not include sales tax (I believe) and that amount of tax varies from state to state. The UK and EU prices include value added taxes. At the end of the calculation, the price is similar given how much currency rate fluctuate. No rip off, simply a compromise.
Click to expand...

To illustrate. Compare California (highest sales tax in the USA). Price there would be $9.99 + 7.5% = $10.74.

Price in Pounds would be 10.74 divided by 1.59 (todays exchange rate) multiplied by 1.2 (add 20% VAT) = £8.11. So it is more expensive, and that £1.88 is exactly $2.99 so what OP said is correct.
 
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daio said:
Don't forget that the US dollar prices do not include sales tax (I believe) and that amount of tax varies from state to state. The UK and EU prices include value added taxes. At the end of the calculation, the price is similar given how much currency rate fluctuate. No rip off, simply a compromise.
Click to expand...

The prices I quoted (~$3 more a month) are calculated with VAT taken off, so the actual difference is even higher. The USD is strong at the moment, yes, but we're still essentially paying much more than lots of other countries.
 
cambookpro said:
The prices I quoted (~$3 more a month) are calculated with VAT taken off, so the actual difference is even higher. The USD is strong at the moment, yes, but we're still essentially paying much more than lots of other countries.
Click to expand...

Yes before tax price USA = $9.99, UK = $13.24 using todays exchange rate. Exchange rate does fluctuate and even if you used a very conservative rate of 1.4 which it hasn't been as low as that for many years the price would be $11.66 before tax. But in fairness to Apple the price they are charging is the market rate and it is perfectly possible that Apple had to charge this price (it is widely believed that Apple wanted to charge $7.99 in the USA but weren't allowed by the record companies).
 
Remember that there is no official pricing out. All that was shown was screenshots from some beta software. It is entirely possible that all we saw was the number 9.99 with a different symbol for the currency.

Especially if you see this: iOS 8.4 beta appears to confirm European Apple Music pricing of £9.99/€9.99 per month

There is absolutely no way that the UK price is £9.99 and the Euro price is €9.99. It is 100 times more likely that we have the same number with localised currency in beta software.
 
gnasher729 said:
Remember that there is no official pricing out. All that was shown was screenshots from some beta software. It is entirely possible that all we saw was the number 9.99 with a different symbol for the currency.

Especially if you see this: iOS 8.4 beta appears to confirm European Apple Music pricing of £9.99/€9.99 per month

There is absolutely no way that the UK price is £9.99 and the Euro price is €9.99. It is 100 times more likely that we have the same number with localised currency in beta software.
Click to expand...

While this is certainly possible, it certainly seems like wishful thinking especially since there have also been screenshots of lower pricing for developing countries - doesn't seem to just be a placeholder pre-localisation. It seems like they're matching Spotify Premium, which unfortunately is £9.99 here and €9.99 in Europe.

sniffies said:
Don't forget it's a U.S. company. We're entitled to better privileges.
Click to expand...

Misses the point a little bit. Although, yes, the UK's pricing (if it's true of course) is higher than the US by quite a lot, it would also be higher than Europe's. This isn't an issue of America vs the world.
 
For what it's worth, it's $12.99 in NZ (also matching Spotify Premium... and cheaper than the rumoured $16.99). I haven't been able to find NZ pricing for Pandora One.

Edit: Hmm, I left the selection screen open and it proceeded into Radio after ~30 seconds without selecting a plan.
 
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Of course it'll be 9.99 in the UK. We're already paying this for spotify, so why wouldn't we pay the same for a service that's better supported, better funded, better curated, and doesn't look like its gonna go bankrupt before christmas?

I'd even say the 14.99 plan is a damn bargain for 6 family members.
 
sniffies said:
You misunderstood. I didn't mean America vs. the world. I meant Americans are entitled to better pricing.
Click to expand...
OK. I think it would be a mistake for Apple to specifically favour the US, though they're entitled to do so I suppose. There's a risk of alienating international customers though.
 
sniffies said:
I believe that's what most companies do. Pricing tends to be lower in company's home country.
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Not always true plenty of companies do price discrimination https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Price_discrimination

Higher prices doesn't necessarily mean more overall profit. Each market/country will respond differently to pricing depending on how much disposable income people have and what the competition is like. So a company may deliberately sell something for less in an overseas company because of lower wages, but sell far more units than if they sold it at US price and so end up with a larger overall profit. (e.g. 1,000 units with $5 profit each is much better than 100 units with $20 profit each).

Here Apple music is actually slightly cheaper in Euro zone than US when you take into account tax because the competitors are charging €9.99, if they charged more then far less people would use it.
 
sniffies said:
I believe that's what most companies do. Pricing tends to be lower in company's home country.
Click to expand...
I hope this is a joke. Apple pricing depends on exactly one factor. How much are people willing to pay and how can we make the most money.
Do you really think they like Americans better than others and thus have lower prices in the U.S.? What a joke.

It's a matter of taxes, currency rates and duties.
BMWs are cheaper in the U.S. than in Germany where they are made. Why? Because taxes are lower in the U.S. and Germans use more of their disposable income on cars so they are willing to spend more.
 
hobsgrg said:
To illustrate. Compare California (highest sales tax in the USA). Price there would be $9.99 + 7.5% = $10.74.

Price in Pounds would be 10.74 divided by 1.59 (todays exchange rate) multiplied by 1.2 (add 20% VAT) = £8.11. So it is more expensive, and that £1.88 is exactly $2.99 so what OP said is correct.
Click to expand...

Why are you adding the CA taxes, then converting to pounds then adding VAT?
wouldn't it make more sense to either:

1) Compare untaxed US price with untaxed UK with an average of 20$ VAT for EU:
US=£6.35
UK=£8.32
EU=£5.90

2) Compare taxed prices, assuming CA taxes
US=£6.81
UK=£9.99
EU=£7.10


We still get that UK prices are 30% higher than Europe's or 32% higher than US.
For no real good reason, as salaries are pretty on par between euro countries in the EU and the UK.
 
Some European countries, like Hungary, will get it for 4.99 EUR. Same price as Spotify though, so pretty sure Apple is just trying to match Spotify in every country.
gborz_2015-Jun-22.jpg
 
But Hungary doesn't have the euro. I think the only chance apple had of setting different prices are in countries with other currencies. And they ripping brits off.
 
jmmo20 said:
But Hungary doesn't have the euro. I think the only chance apple had of setting different prices are in countries with other currencies. And they ripping brits off.
Click to expand...
U think Apple just makes up prices? Maybe they have to pay more compensation to record labels in the UK? Since Spotify is also more expensive in Britain, i would assume that thats the case.
 
There's a risk involved with other currencies as well for subscription services. There'd be an even greater uproar if they had to up the price later on because of the currency just dropping spectacularly, so it's better to build in that risk beforehand.

In the UK, count on the in/out referendum on the EU dropping the value of the Pound drastically, no matter what the outcome is.

But as the above poster pointed out, it's mostly the record labels deciding the price.
 
This infuriates me. Why do they have to charge us 50-60% more in the UK? Can somebody please tell me?
 
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