“For each song that is streamed free, Apple will pay 0.2 cent for the use of recordings, a rate that music executives said was roughly comparable to the free tiers from services like Spotify,” Ben Sisario reports for The New York Times.
“This rate does not include a smaller payment for songwriting rights that goes to music publishers; Apple is still negotiating with many publishers over those terms, several publishing companies confirmed on Wednesday,” Sisario reports. “According to the music executives, these rates would apply to all labels. For independents, the negotiations with Apple are seen as a victory, allowing thousands of small labels to be part of Apple Music and earn money when people listen to their songs.”
“But a lingering issue is how much credit goes to Ms. Swift. Without her involvement, some executives said, a deal would most likely not have been reached so quickly,” Sisario reports. “Others, like Adrian Pope, managing director of the British label PIAS, insisted that her involvement only finished what others had already begun. ‘Despite what one might read,’ Mr. Pope said, in a statement quoted by the music website The Quietus, ‘this was not entirely down to Taylor Swift.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Giving Taylor Swift the full credit is what the choreographers of this manufactured conflict and resolution intended. Just play along, Adrian.