Why it’s misleading to say ‘Apple Music pays twice as much per stream as Spotify’

In one of its veiled digs at Spotify, Apple Music states in its letter that it pays ‘the same 52% headline rate to all labels’; sources tell Variety that Spotify has different deals with different labels, although specifics were not readily available. — Dreamstime/TNS

LOS ANGELES: Early on April 16, Apple Music sent a carefully worded letter to artistes, music labels and publishers that briefly explained “how creators earn royalties” from the streaming service, which is the world’s second-largest, behind Spotify.

The letter, which was not sent to the media, was obtained by the Wall Street Journal, which published a report that was not inaccurate but, since it was the only reliable source of the news for media outlets, was often inaccurately re-reported – most frequently in multiple headlines stating that Apple Music pays twice as much per stream as Spotify.