Apple Music has revealed that it pays artists a penny for each song broadcast on the service, about double the price paid by Spotify.
Apple’s streaming service opened its payment structure on Friday in a letter to artists and labels on Friday, in an attempt to show they are artist-friendly and gain more subscribers, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The move is seen as a dig at Spotify, which pays about half to a third of a percent per song – although Spotify generates much higher revenue for the industry, as it has more users who stream more songs.
Spotify says it has about 155 million paying subscribers and another 190 million using the free version supported by ads, while estimates put Apple Music’s paid subscriber base at about 72 million.
Apple Music has revealed that it pays artists a penny for each song broadcast on the service, about double the price paid by Spotify
Apple’s letter to the industry was seen as a blow to Spotify. Above, Apple CEO Tim Cook is seen on the left and Spotify CEO Daniel Ek is seen on the right
Apple Music launched in 2015, was immediately involved in a high-quality fight with Taylor Swift, who said she would keep her last album out of service due to Apple’s policy of not paying artists for songs played during the free trial period. of new users.
Apple quickly reversed the policy and announced that it would pay artists for streams in a trial period, but the tiff has left persistent resentment in the industry.
The results of the pandemic, which have had a devastating impact on concert revenues, which are crucial for modern musicians, have placed even greater emphasis on how revenues from streaming services are shared among rights holders.
With Friday’s letter, Apple hopes to show that it is friendly with the artists, gaining goodwill and, hopefully, new subscribers.
“As the discussion about streaming royalties continues, we think it’s important to share our values,” Apple said in its letter, according to the Journal.
Singer Ariana Grande is seen singing in 2019. With the devastating pandemic of concert revenues, musicians are fighting for a bigger slice of streaming revenue
“We believe that we pay each creator the same rate, that a song has a value and that creators should never pay for the presentation of music in the main display space in his service,” the letter continued.
Streaming services do not pay artists directly, but instead send money to record companies, publishers and distributors, who share revenue with artists based on various contracts.
In the letter, Apple says it pays 52 percent of subscription revenue, or 52 cents of every dollar, to all record companies.
Spotify pays about 50 to 53 cents a dollar for labels, and about 75 to 80 percent of all its revenue goes to rights holders, including publishers and distributors.
“If Apple can pay a penny per stream, then so can Spotify,” said the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers, which is fighting to earn artists a larger share of streaming revenue.
Spotify’s song rate is lower because the average Spotify subscriber listens to more music per month than listeners on other services.
However, Spotify offers much higher revenue to the industry in general because its subscriber base is larger than Apple Music.
The Union of Allied Musicians and Workers weighed Apple’s letter, saying all music streamers should pay at least a penny per stream.
“If Apple can pay a penny per stream, then Spotify can,” the union said.
“We also know that paying a penny per stream is just a starting point to correct the mistake of the streaming economy. This adjustment alone will not make the music industry fair or equitable enough. ‘