On Tuesday, June 30, 2015, Apple updated their iTunes Store Terms and Conditions just hours ahead of the iTunes Music launch. Anyone downloading apps or app updates from the iTunes Store will have to agree to this, as will anyone installing iOS 8.4, as well.
iTunes gets new T&C for Apple Music
The big changes are the inclusion of a new section detailing Apple Music, with mention of "iCloud Music Library" that sounds eerily familiar to iTunes Match (though iTunes Match is still listed elsewhere). Apple Music will require iOS 8.4, iTunes 12.2 and Android 4.1. Additionally, Apple now (for good reason) has the right to use your playback information to report to licensors and pay royalties. This covers both the new Apple Music service as well as iTunes Match.
Full changelog below:
- A new “Section D” has been added, titled “Apple Music Terms and Conditions.” We won’t quote the entire 4,600-word section in full, but some highlights are:
- You must be at least 13 years old to use it unless you have a school-provided or Family Sharing account.
- Apple Music is only available in the United States (and "its territories, and possessions”) and users may not try to circumvent this (say, with a VPN, one might presume).
- Apple Music requires iOS 8.4, iTunes 12.2 or Android 4.1 or later.
- Apple has the right to log what you listen to (including skips and stops), your IP address, device type, operating system version and type, and unique device identifiers. This information will be used, in part, to report to licensors and pay royalties.
- Charges for Apple Music will be made to the payment method associated with your Apple ID or Family Sharing Organizer’s ID.
- To be eligible for the Apple Music family rate you must be enrolled in Family Sharing.
- "Where available, you may be offered an Apple Music Subscription through your carrier (a 'Carrier Subscription').” Presumably this will come after the bulk of the free trial folks are finished.
- In this section, “iCloud Music Library” is described and, along with its 25,000 song limit, sounds quite similar to iTunes Match (though iTunes Match is referenced in the rest of the document). It will be interesting to see if and how these two either coexist or are merged down the road.
- Apple Music can be associated with ten devices, only five of which may be computers. Individual subscriptions can only stream to one device at a time, while family subscriptions will allow streaming up to six devices at a time.
- "You shall not be entitled to burn Apple Music Products.” Let’s hope everyone likes Apple Music, then. Or maybe they mean CDs? How quaint.
- The “Payments, Taxes, and Refund Policy” in section A was updated to change “sales tax” to simply “tax.” As well, the phrase “We will charge tax only in states where digital goods are taxable,” was removed.
- Anywhere ages were mentioned in the previous version they were followed by a “(see geo modifications)” note. These have all been removed and were likely never intended to make it to a public version of the document.
- "Family Sharing” in Section A saw two updates:
- The entire sentence, "[Family members are acting as agents for the Organizer when the Organizer's payment method is used. (add to EU geos, and as advised by local counsel)]” was removed. Again, given that it was inside brackets I think this was some draft notes that shouldn’t ever have been released.
- Also in “Family Sharing” a typo was corrected from from “Photo app” to "Photos app.”
- A new section called “Non-Apple Devices” was added to the Section A to cover people signing up for the service using something other than an Apple-branded device. The important part states, "If you sign up for an Account or use a Service covered by this Agreement on a non-Apple-branded device or computer, you may have access to only a limited set of Account or Service functionality."
- Section B’s “iTunes Match” portion saw a few legalese updates:
- The description of the setup process is made clearer, now specifically saying that "information about the media in your iTunes library, your operating system and hardware identifiers, will be collected and associated with your Account on Apple’s servers.” No surprise here, just clearer language.
- Where it used to state that “Genius will begin associating information” about the media in your library it now gets broader and states, “Apple will log information.” Additionally, it now says, "By using iTunes Match, you agree and consent to Apple’s and its subsidiaries’ and agents’ transmission, collection, maintenance, processing, and use of this information, including your iTunes Match usage information, to report to licensors and pay royalties.” Interesting that iTunes Match usage data is now specifically used for royalty payments.
- Apple’s Privacy Policy has moved and is now located at http://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/.
- A typo in the section specifying the email address for reporting issues with closed captioning in specific content within the iTunes Store has been fixed to clarify the address as [email protected].
- Regarding “Submissions to the iTunes Service” as well as submissions to the “App and Book Services" the policy has changed to say that anything you submit to the service’s “interactive features” comes along with you granting Apple a license to use such materials as part of the iTunes Service or in relation to iTunes Products (previously it was and — another minor change).
- Another bracketed clause was removed, this time from the “App Bundles” portion about charges for previous purchases therein that previously stated, "[,except when such prior purchases were made in a different currency – add to China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Russia, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Israel and Turkey ]."
You can read the full iTunes Store Terms and Conditions online at any time.