Apple offers discounted annual Apple Music subscription through $99 gift card

AppleInsider

Apple is now selling 12-month Apple Music gift cards for $99 in the U.S., allowing people willing to commit for that span to save a significant amount on their subscription.

The cards are available at Apple's retail stores, and from several online retailers including Best Buy, Walmart, and even PayPal's eBay store. Apple itself isn't selling 12-month subscriptions online, whether through the Web, iTunes, or iOS.

For an individual listener, Apple Music normally costs about $120 per year at a rate of $9.99 per month. Apple's main rival in on-demand streaming -- Spotify -- does sell cards for 12-month Premium subscriptions, but these are normally full-price ($120) unless a vendor happens to be offering a discount.

Apple can afford to be more aggressive with pricing, since its online services are mostly a way of keeping people attached to its hardware, where most of its profit is made. While both Spotify and Apple Music are multi-platform, the latter is deeply integrated into iOS devices.

The company may be hoping to intensify competition with Spotify, which still has twice the number of paid subscribers and an even larger number of ad-supported listeners. An Apple Music revamp is coming with this month's release of iOS 10, which should significantly improve the service's interface.

ireland

Europe?

ny1822

Last year I waited until around Black Friday and purchased two $100 ITunes gift cards for $80 each from Best Buy and used towards my Apple Music subscription. Nice idea this year to give as a gift.

edited September 2016

kozchris

I purchased the 12month code through the PayPal eBay store. The $99 was added to my existing iTunes credit. Not sure how this is supposed to work but something appears to be broken.

To answer the basic question, yes the code is for the 12 month subscription and not some $99 iTunes credit code.

edited September 2016

yoyo2222

This is fine except I have a family plan. Would the discount code give me a break on at least part of my subscription?

ny1822

kozchris said:

I purchased the 12month code through the PayPal eBay store. The $99 was added to my existing iTunes credit. Not sure how this is supposed to work but something appears to be broken.

To answer the basic question, yes the code is for the 12 month subscription and not some $99 iTunes credit code.

something does seem weird. They need to do a better job of explaining what the card can be used for. So if you sign up for Apple Music and get the 3-month free trial, while this gift card be applied on top of that? What about a family plan? is it just applied as iTunes credit (since a regular iTunes gift card can be used for recurring payments of Apple Music)?

edited September 2016

schlack

Great value at $100/yr, although I have been getting this for awhile by buying 20% iTunes gift cards when they're on sale, so it's just a marketing reshuffle for me.

ny1822

on the Apple Website it states "ITunes and Apple Music Gift Cards can be used in ITunes Store, iBooks store, or App Store". So basically this is just a $100 Apple credit for $80, but a good idea for gift giving and marketing.

rockdaddy22

Also available in Canada, PayPal, Best Buy, London Drugs and others. 

johnbear

with youtube and others free this is just obscene! shame on you apple

maccad

johnbear said:

with youtube and others free this is just obscene! shame on you apple

No, shame on you johnboat. You expect artists to entertain you for free. Do you work for free? Didn't think so. You and freeloaders like you are the obscene ones.

rayz2016

maccad said:

johnbear said:

with youtube and others free this is just obscene! shame on you apple

No, shame on you johnboat. You expect artists to entertain you for free. Do you work for free? Didn't think so. You and freeloaders like you are the obscene ones.

I think he was joking. At least I hope he was. :-/

thewhitefalcon

ireland said:

Europe?

It'll be 140 euros there to account for the tax judgment. Decisions have consequences. 

ansprechpartner

On Paypal (www.paypal-gifts.com) you can buy the exact same thing für 99€ in Germany ... so I do not even know if that is "new" ...

lostkiwi

I can't seem to find this anywhere in NZ.  If anyone does find this, please let me know...

brucemc

Hopefully this represents some further services development by Apple.  There is so much potential in the bundling of services:
- Apple Music and iCloud storage - like 1TB for $15
- Expanded Apple Care across all devices - I don't buy Apple Care for each device, but might by one that covered all devices at a discounted rate
- 

jbdragon

Not a bad deal as it works out to $8.25 a month. If you use Apple Music all the time, it's a good deal. I'm waiting for a $4.99 price point. Limit hours or something. I don't tune into a whole lot of music making it not worth even $8.25. So I just will continue to use Amazon Music since it's free as part of being a Prime Member.

fbarnako

How do I use this Code to extend my existing month to month subscription?

beobe

Same issue: redeemed the card and iTunes just added $99 to my balance. My Apple Music subscription is still month-to-month and my account is still going to be charged $9.99/month. I've been buying the 20% off cards for years, so think I just got ripped off for $20. Also, I hate paying every month!