With the launch of the new Apple streaming platform just around the corner on 30th June, independent artists are facing a dilemma – whether or not to sign the agreements proposed by Apple. So what is the issue? Well, the new platform will be free for the initial 3 months following the launch which means that artists won’t be paid for music streamed during this period. As well as the payments that artists won’t be getting from Apple, they are also likely to experience a drop in paid downloads as users opt to stream tracks free instead of paying for downloads. Artists are also likely to experience a drop in revenue from other streaming providers (Spotify, Pandora, etc) as users make the switch over to Apple’s service. So is this fair? As the free period is Apple’s idea to attract users to use their new platform, shouldn’t they really be taking on the costs involved in this instead of the artists suffering?
Read more at: