Before the Apple Music (new service streaming of music from Apple, which came to replace Beats Music) will be officially presented by the company, we comment a lot here on the website about negotiations involving Apple and record companies. What is known is that Apple wanted to work with a price lower than the US $ 10 monthly practiced, but the record companies hit the foot and maintained the value that can today be considered "base" of this industry of streaming.
For today Robert Kondrk, vice president of content for iTunes (who works directly with Eddy Cue), informed the Re / code that of this $ 10, more than $ 7 will be transferred directly to record companies, distributors and music owners in the USA in other countries, the value will fluctuate a little but the average transfer will be 73%, above the 71.5% American.
These values, according to Kondrk, are slightly above industry standards, and part of that has to do with the period trial of the service. One of the great differentials of Apple Music, without a doubt, is the possibility of testing everything for up to three months without paying absolutely anything. During this period, nobody wins: neither Apple nor the record companies (since Ma does not pass on royalties during the testing phase).
As we reported, Apple would have campaigned with record companies to try to end the model freemium Spotify, which is undeniably one of the main competitors of Apple Music. This pressure seems to have had an effect since some music business executives are pressuring Spotify to abandon this business model.
Defending himself from the attacks, Jonathan Prince (a spokesman for Spotify) said that Apple itself offers its free music service (the Beats 1 radio station) which, like the free Spotify plan, also has a pass-through royalties smaller. She also said that Spotify pays royalties for all the songs played on the service (including during the testing period and the free radio tracks) and that, all together, the transfer of royalties would be around 70% of the total revenue.
The "war" has started.