Report: Apple’s low royalty offer stalls music streaming

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Report: Apple’s low royalty offer stalls music streaming

Apple’s proposed streaming music service is being held up by the company’s low offer for royalty rates, according to the New York Post. Sources said Apple has offered record labels around 6 cents per 100 songs streamed, about half of what Pandora offers: 12 cents per 100 songs streamed. A December report noted that progress was slow in talks between Apple and record labels, but no further details were given. While the new report notes that labels would love to open up a new revenue stream via Apple, the offer is seen as too low. Some insiders suggest Apple should pay the rate set by the Copyright Royalty Board, which is around 21 cents per 100 songs streamed.

A related report from The New York Times notes that licensing negotiations will likely delay the launch of Apple’s proposed service until the summer. It’s believed that Apple will pre-load an app on iOS devices for the Pandora-style service, which will be supported through iAds.

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Comments

1

Yeah, but all I want to do is stream the music I have in the iCloud… When will they allow that on iDevices?!?

Posted by curtneedsaride on March 7, 2013 at 11:30 AM (PST)

2

@1 - I was streaming songs from iCloud on my iPhone 5 all the time. In fact, I was concerned about the data I could potentially burn through, so I switched the setting to show only music located on the phone itself.

Posted by Mitch Hale on March 7, 2013 at 2:29 PM (PST)

3

So, the general industry scuttle is that Pandora’s $0.0012/song is an unsustainable model for content producers (and, really, considering that you’d have to stream a song 575 times just to equal what the rights holders get from one $0.99 purchase, it’s not hard to see why they say this), Apple’s idea of being reasonable, knowing that they’re already way, way late to this table, that the music industry, indie and corporate alike, gives them the side eye constantly, is to offer *half* what Pandora pays, which is already half of what the industry says is a sustainable price point?

As usual, pure genius :-D

Posted by Code Monkey in Midstate New York on March 8, 2013 at 11:15 AM (PST)

4

This article should probably note the Sirius XM currently pays 50% less than Pandora in royalties.

Posted by Miles PO on March 10, 2013 at 10:59 AM (PST)

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