Apple Music pays an average of $0.01 per stream to its artists

The technology giant further revealed that it does not pay a lower royalty rate in exchange for featuring editorial playlists. There are 30,000 editorial playlists in Apple Music. Last year, Apple claimed to have paid out royalties to more than 5 million recording artists which are over 1 million more than what it paid in 2019.

Technology giant Apple has revealed in its letter that it pays an average of $0.01 per stream to the artists. Besides that, the company also pays the same 52% headline rate to all labels as against other services which pay “a substantially lower rate” to independent labels. Similarly, the same thing is paid to every publisher and licensor in all countries.

According to a report from Wall Street Journal, Apple has not given the exact breakup of the amount that is paid to the artists in different markets. It differs from country to country.

The technology giant further revealed that it does not pay a lower royalty rate in exchange for featuring editorial playlists. There are 30,000 editorial playlists in Apple Music. “These tastemakers select music based on merit and we do not ask anyone to accept a lower royalty rate in exchange for featuring. The same is true for Apple Music’s personalized playlists and algorithmic recommendations,” Apple said in its letter.

Last year, Apple claimed to have paid out royalties to more than 5 million recording artists which are over 1 million more than what it paid in 2019. “The number of recording artists whose catalogs generated recording and publishing royalties over $1 million per year increased over 120% since 2017, while the number of recording artists whose catalogs generated over $50,000 per year has more than doubled,” Apple added.