Apple Music has announced that they will now pay ‘double’ the amount of streaming royalties than their biggest rival; Spotify, as reported by Music Week. Spotify pays one third to half a cent per play, while Apple Music states that they pay double with 1 cent per play.
Last month, the UK’s parliamentary discussion opened up on the economics of streaming services, leading Spotify to create website to show more transparency on how their services work and where their royalties go, and to which record company. In contrast, Apple Music has written a letter, which has been seen by Wall Street Journal.
“As the discussion about streaming royalties continues, we believe it is important to share our values. We believe in paying every creator the same rate, that a play has a value, and that creators should never have to pay,” the Apple Music letter said. As a reference to Spotify’s new offer to labels and artists on a reduced promotional royalty rate. The letter also states that Apple Music has industry experts who recommend that the payments can be ‘lower’.
Spotify subscribed users are at 155 million (345 million in total) vs. Apple Music’s 60 million.
Bandcamp and Soundcloud have decided to be more fair to their artists by making sure they get their fair share of royalties. Bandcamp, like PRS/PPL Music in the UK, make sure to send out artist royalties at the end of each month on the last Friday, whilst Soundcloud is trying to set up a similar scheme.
Spotify has also struck unionized deal with their parent companies Gimlet Media and The Ringer.
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