Apple Music starts charging for three-month trials in some countries

For reasons unknown, Apple has begun charging a small fee in Australia, Spain, and Switzerland for what would ordinarily be a free three-month trial of Apple Music.

The company is charging newcomers 99 cents in Australia, 0.99 in Spain, and Fr. 0.99 in Switzerland. All three countries had access to free trials as recently as this month.

So far the switch doesn't appear to have taken root elsewhere.

The fee is unlikely to deter too many customers, particularly since the leader in the on-demand music space — Spotify — sometimes charges more for trying out its Premium plan. In the U.S. for example, first-time Premium customers get three months for $9.99. Unlike Apple though, the company also offers a free ad-supported tier.

Apple could conceivably be trying to recoup some of the costs of trials. In fact the company originally planned to skip paying royalties entirely for trial streams, but a backlash from labels and pop star Taylor Swift prompted Apple to change its mind, likely at significant expense.

If so Apple will presumably bring the new fees to other markets like the U.S., U.K., and Canada.

10 Comments

kevin kee 10 Years · 1289 comments

About 7 years ago

Not unexpected. The three months trial is at premium tier with no ads, while charged it is only 99 cents. I surprise it took Apple this long. Other company like Spotify already charged people for their trial service in Australia. This is just a competitive move by Apple, nothing much.

JanNL 9 Years · 328 comments

In Netherlands it's only 1 month free trial (for some months now).

Rayz2016 8 Years · 6957 comments

kevin kee said:

Not unexpected. The three months trial is at premium tier with no ads, while charged it is only 99 cents. I surprise it took Apple this long. Other company like Spotify already charged people for their trial service in Australia. This is just a competitive move by Apple, nothing much.

My guess is that this is to comply with regional laws. In some instances, a contract to provide services is only binding when money has exchanged hands. This seems to be the case with music. The likes of Elton John and Paul McCartney are paid £1 to play at charity gigs, which ensures they're legally obligated to show up.

According to some people of the other sites, this is not anything new; Spotify charges for trials in the same three countries.

My 0.99c

Rutherford 7 Years · 12 comments

Regional laws might have influenced this change. $0.99 for a month's worth of access to millions of songs is still a bargain, though.

rogifan_new 9 Years · 4297 comments

Rutherford said:

Regional laws might have influenced this change. $0.99 for a month's worth of access to millions of songs is still a bargain, though.

But is it worth the cost of processing for Apple? I can't see why Apple would bother unless they're worried about running afoul of local governments.