Apple stream. Apple pays an average of $0.01 per stream

Apple pays an average of $0.01 per stream, Apple Music said in a letter to artists, as per reports.

As per the letter reviewed by Wall Street Journal and published in full by 9to5Mac, Apple Music said, “While royalties from streaming services are calculated on a stream share basis, a play still has a value. This value varies by subscription plan and country but averaged $0.01 for Apple Music individual paid plans in 2020. This includes label and publisher royalties.”

The tech giant further said that it pays 52 per cent of subscription revenue as the headline rate. It has the same headline rate for every publisher and licensor within each country as opposed to some other services that pay “a substantially lower rate” to independent labels.

However, it did not provide details as to how it translates across its family plans and lower subscription rates in other markets, as noted by the 9to5Mac report.

Subscription plans and cost

For instance, the subscription cost for Apple Music in India is ₹99 per month, significantly lower than in the US. Furthermore, Apple also offers Apple Music bundled with Apple One and also has cheaper plans for students, and family members.

It said in the letter that its average per play rate is $0.01.

It further said that royalties were paid out for over 5 million recording artists worldwide in 2020. The number of recording artists generating more than $50,000 per year has more than doubled.

In comparison, as per the WSJ report, Spotify pays nearly one-third to a one-half penny per stream on average. However, it has a larger user base which leads to more streams.

Apple had over 60 million Music subscribers as reported in June 2019, as per the report. While the total MAUs on Spotify grew 27 per cent Year over Year to 345 million in Q4 2020.

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