VAT on a streaming subscription comes off before royalties are split, so when the Philippines added 12 percent in June 2025, every Spotify peso shrank first.<\/p>\n
VAT means value-added tax, the consumption tax a platform collects from subscribers and passes to the government. Vietnam doubled its rate on foreign platforms the same summer. Neither shows up as a line on a typical artist statement.<\/p>\n
The UK Parliament’s culture committee set out the order in its 2021 report on the economics of music streaming<\/a>. The government takes its VAT first. What remains is the gross revenue pot, of which the platform keeps roughly 30 percent, master rightsholders roughly 55 percent and song rightsholders roughly 15 percent.<\/p>\n So a tax change moves the pot before any contract does. Spotify’s Philippine support page<\/a> confirms that, where applicable, the Premium price includes VAT.<\/p>\n Republic Act 12023 applies 12 percent VAT to digital services. Non-resident providers had to start charging it on 2 June 2025, per a BusinessWorld tax column<\/a>.<\/p>\n Spotify’s Philippine page still listed Premium Individual at \u20b1149 a month on 18 June 2025, according to the Wayback Machine<\/a>. In August, Spotify moved it to \u20b1169, citing product innovation, as Melanie Uson reported for PhilSTAR Life<\/a>.<\/p>\n The sticker price rose 13.4 percent. The pot per subscriber rose 1.3 percent. Measured against the pre-tax price, \u20b118.11 of the extra \u20b120 is VAT.<\/p>\n From 1 July 2025, VAT on services sold by foreign platforms without a permanent establishment in Vietnam rose from 5 to 10 percent, per PwC’s Vietnam tax summary<\/a>. On 21 August 2025, Apple adjusted App Store developer proceeds<\/a> in Vietnam and the Philippines for these same two changes.<\/p>\n Spotify raised Vietnam’s Premium Individual price from \u20ab59,000 to \u20ab65,000 from September billing, VietNamNet reported<\/a>. Net of tax, that is roughly \u20ab56,000 before July 2025 and roughly \u20ab59,000 after: about a 5 percent gain on a 10.2 percent sticker rise.<\/p>\n In July and August, existing subscribers paid the old price at the new rate, leaving roughly 5 percent less to split.<\/p>\nThe Philippines: from 0 to 12 percent<\/h2>\n
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Vietnam: from 5 to 10 percent<\/h2>\n
What 100 units of a subscription leaves to split<\/h2>\n