Apple Music subscription reduced in India in response to Spotify and YouTube Music launche...

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
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in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV
Apple has cut the cost of its Apple Music subscription in India, making the streaming service cheaper than the recently-launched rivals Spotify and YouTube Music to potential cash-strapped customers in the emerging market.




Apple Music launched in India almost four years ago, bringing the catalog of over 50 million songs to the country. Originally the subscription rates for Apple Music put the service at 120 rupees ($1.73) per month for individuals, 60 rupees ($0.87) for students, and 190 rupees ($2.75) for families, and the pricing has stayed the same throughout its life.

According to the Indian Express, Apple has updated its subscription tiers to make them cheaper. Students now have to pay only 49 rupees ($0.71) per month for the service, with the Individual plan at 99 rupees ($1.43) per month, and the Family plan at149 rupees ($2.15) per month.

The timing of the price drops is likely due to the availability of Spotify and YouTube Music in the market within the last few weeks, with Apple keen to undercut the competition. Spotify still offers an ad-supported tier, just as with other markets, but its plan for a single user costs 119 rupees per month, effectively the same as Apple Music's old rate.

Both Spotify and Apple Music are cheaper than YouTube Premium, which charges 129 rupees ($1.86) per month for one user.

The price cut of Apple Music follows after another of Apple's corrections, with reports of Indian resellers lowering the cost of the iPhone XR surfacing on Monday. The 64-gigabyte iPhone XR dropped to 59,900 rupees ($875), a reduction of 22 percent.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    tipootipoo Posts: 1,142member
    Damn, 99INR is only 1.91 Canadian dollars, if that's sustainable and profitable in India it just goes to show how high services margins are in the western world. 
  • Reply 2 of 10
    franklinjackconfranklinjackcon Posts: 612member
    tipoo said:
    Damn, 99INR is only 1.91 Canadian dollars, if that's sustainable and profitable in India it just goes to show how high services margins are in the western world. 
    It's hard to believe it's sustainable in the short term. It reminds me of Bill Gates talking about rampant piracy in China, "As long as they're going  to steal it, we want them to steal ours. " If Apple can get a few tens or even hundreds of millions subscribing in India for basically nothing, sooner or later they'll get a return.
    racerhomie3
  • Reply 3 of 10
    sreesree Posts: 152member
    tipoo said:
    Damn, 99INR is only 1.91 Canadian dollars, if that's sustainable and profitable in India it just goes to show how high services margins are in the western world. 
    Its not the profitability. Its the lack of local content.

    While apple music (and spotify etc.) might have good international content (i.e. western music) they have very little local content. Especially old local content. A few years down the line maybe they will build up their library enough but as of now there is very little and the growth in content is very slow. I had subscribed to the service for a year and then decided to unsubscribe.

    (For those who don't know, there are over 50 fully active languages in india, with about a dozen languages having a full-fledged music and movie industries.)

    So, local language content is extremely important and many times determines the success of a service.  There are many alternative music services like Saavn or Gaana which provide the desired content.
    gatorguyentropyschasm
  • Reply 4 of 10
    beowulfschmidtbeowulfschmidt Posts: 2,137member
    tipoo said:
    Damn, 99INR is only 1.91 Canadian dollars, if that's sustainable and profitable in India it just goes to show how high services margins are in the western world. 
    No kidding.  I wonder if they're getting less variety or something in return for paying less than one sixth what we in the US pay.
  • Reply 5 of 10
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,425member
    No disrespect but isn't this like pontificating about the price of tea in China?   This story has little value outside of India 
    flydog
  • Reply 6 of 10
    ericG721ericG721 Posts: 11member
    hmurchison said:
    No disrespect but isn't this like pontificating about the price of tea in China?   This story has little value outside of India 
    Taking you at your word: nobody is aware of being ignorant. There are other takes on this. It's interesting because Apple is an international company and the competition between Spotify and Apple in the EU and US is now also taking place in India. Apple believes undercutting Spotify is the best strategy. This might be more meaningful in a few years when maybe Apple music leaves the Indian market. It can also just be a nice to read something different once in a while. By the way my response may be pontificating but the article is not.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    flydogflydog Posts: 1,124member
    tipoo said:
    Damn, 99INR is only 1.91 Canadian dollars, if that's sustainable and profitable in India it just goes to show how high services margins are in the western world. 
    It's hard to believe it's sustainable in the short term. It reminds me of Bill Gates talking about rampant piracy in China, "As long as they're going  to steal it, we want them to steal ours. " If Apple can get a few tens or even hundreds of millions subscribing in India for basically nothing, sooner or later they'll get a return.
    Not hard to sustain at all.  Apple doesn't buy music in the US to resell in other countries.  The product and costs are entirely different, as are listening habits.
    edited April 2019 chasm
  • Reply 8 of 10
    spice-boyspice-boy Posts: 1,450member
    Some day we will regret making everywhere the same.
  • Reply 9 of 10
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,303member
    Please see Sree's informed comment. While technically a lot of music is available on Apple Music in India, Indian artists are probably emphasized (as it is in the countries I travel to), but there may not be as much content there as on India-based competitors. Licensing is again a whole different ball of wax there as well.

    In short, Apple's isn't making $8 off your $10/month because you're in the US, there's multiple factors involved that make some countries a very different game than, say, "Europe" or "North America."
  • Reply 10 of 10
    bala1234bala1234 Posts: 144member
    sree said:
    tipoo said:
    Damn, 99INR is only 1.91 Canadian dollars, if that's sustainable and profitable in India it just goes to show how high services margins are in the western world. 
    Its not the profitability. Its the lack of local content.

    While apple music (and spotify etc.) might have good international content (i.e. western music) they have very little local content. Especially old local content. A few years down the line maybe they will build up their library enough but as of now there is very little and the growth in content is very slow. I had subscribed to the service for a year and then decided to unsubscribe.

    (For those who don't know, there are over 50 fully active languages in india, with about a dozen languages having a full-fledged music and movie industries.)

    So, local language content is extremely important and many times determines the success of a service.  There are many alternative music services like Saavn or Gaana which provide the desired content.
    That's true, I was one of the early subscriber's to Apple Music. I even subscribed to their upload your music make it legal plan (whatever it was called). But it messed up my playlists and like Sree mentions there was very little local content. And then I subscribed to Google Play music All Access. Surprisingly it has a decent amount of local content. Recently I upgrade to Youtube Music Premium Family Plan
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