Independent record labels are crying foul over Apple’s insistence that they provide their music without being paid during Apple Music’s three-month free trial, The Telegraph reports. British labels for artists like Adele and Arctic Monkeys have rejected Apple’s request for the unpaid trial period and don’t intend to cut a deal that would “literally put people out of business,” according to Andy Heath, chairman of lobbying group UK Music.
Apple has confirmed it is paying a slightly higher-than-industry-standard 71.5 percent of revenues to rights holders in the hopes of assuaging doubts about the free trial period, but Heath said that solution misses the point. “If you are running a small label on tight margins you literally can’t afford to do this free trial business,” Heath said.
“Their plan is clearly to move people over from downloads, which is fine, but it will mean us losing those revenues for three months.”
Heath confirmed ongoing Apple negotiations with some indie labels, but Billboard reports that others haven’t heard from Apple at all with only two weeks before Apple Music’s launch, leading them to speculate Apple will send out a mass-emailed opt-in contract soon. After a huge push for unique content, Apple Music is viewed as a big threat to Spotify, but if the company can’t lock down indie music rights holders before launch, Spotify could end up with its own advantage.
