Though Apple Music may still be playing
catchup to Spotify in terms of users, new data
from the Mechanical Licensing Collective has
revealed Apple is the industry leader when
it comes to royalties, demonstrating the
company’s commitment to paying talent. As
Apple continues to expand its services, the
future looks bright, with new Music innovations
coming their way.
AT THE TOP SPOT
In a perhaps unsurprising announcement,
Apple was named in mid-February as the
biggest contributor of music streaming
royalties in the world, ahead of rivals Spotify,
Amazon Music, and YouTube. According to the
Mechanical Licensing Collective, streaming
services have paid out more than $424,384,787
in revenue to musicians and labels to date,
with Apple Music contributing the biggest
share with $163,338,890 paid out. The figure
represents “historical unmatched royalties
from digital service providers,” and is made
up of payments from 20 different providers.
Whilst Apple Music remains smaller than
Spotify globally, the company has paid out
the most revenue since its inception, likely
because Apple does not offer a free version of
its music streaming platform outside of a free
trial. Spotify comes in second place, paying
out $152,226,039, whilst Amazon lags behind
in third place with $42,741,507. The news
comes two years after Apple Music overtook
Spotify for paid subscribers in the USA, and
proves that the company is continuing to add
to its user base. What is important to note is
that Apple does not disclose streaming service