In a letter to be shared with today’s artists through the Apple Music for Artists dashboard, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, Apple has revealed that it pays music rights holders a cent per song broadcast on Apple Music.
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The report claims that Apple Music’s payment structure is thus about double what Spotify pays music rights holders per stream, which is on average about a third to half a penny per stream, although the report cites music industry experts who I say that Apple Music payments can sink below. Apple Music payments come directly from customer service subscription revenue, the report adds.
In the letter, Apple says it pays 52 percent of subscription revenue, or 52 cents of every dollar, to record labels and other music rights holders, according to the report. In turn, these music rights holders pay artists on the basis of their recording, publishing and distribution agreements, so that artists may not receive the full percentage per stream.
“As the discussion about royalties continues, we believe it is important to share our values,” Apple said in the letter, the report said. “We believe that we pay each creator the same price, that a song has value, and that creators should never pay” for their music to be featured in prominent sections of the Apple Music app.
Spotify has significantly more users than Apple Music worldwide, with 155 million paying subscribers and a total of 345 million users by the end of 2020. Apple Music’s last known number of subscribers is about 60 million. including those in a free trial period, but Apple has not provided an updated figure in almost two years now.