How Much Will Apple Music Pay Artists & Labels?

It’s been a question we have heard time and time again since Apple Music was announced a few days ago. Now we have an answer…

Apple Music Royalties

 

Apple Music will pay rights holders 58% of royalties when their music is streamed by paid subscribers of Apple Music. On the free accounts (everyone receives a 3 month long free trial.) that drops to 0%.

This 0% for 3 months is predicted to have a huge impact on music revenue for the summer. If you have a release due out after June 30th you will receive a grand total of £0.00 for streams from Apple Music, no matter how much they are streamed as everyone will still be in their 3 month free trial. Industry analysts are expecting a huge drop in iTunes music sales as the new service launches and iTunes users move across to the streaming service and stop buying their music so revnues could be hit seriously hard during in the first few months of the new service.

This impact will be felt by indie label’s and artists the hardest as the Majors are thought to be on different terms following their own negotiations with Apple Music.

Providing Apple get a reasonable conversion rate after the free trials end, their will be some light at the end of the tunnel. 58% is actually better than many people were expecting. Spotify (who are often criticised for not paying artists enough) pay 70% but this figure is after-tax. Apple’s 58% is gross (pre-tax). If successful Apple Music will eclipse Spotify’s user base very quickly, they are targeting 100million subscribers, 80Million more than Spotify currently has, so the bottom line numbers should, in theory be better.

Whats going to happen long term, will artists & labels be paid fairly? Only time will tell….

Apple Music Launches 30.06.15.
Apple Music Launches 30.06.15.

Apple Music launches on June 30th with a subscription price of $9.99 per user, or $14.99 for a family bundle. The service is free for the first three months and Apple will pay rights holders nothing during this time.