While Apple basks in the publicity it stirred up at WWDC 2015 earlier this week, a recent document leak shows that the company's new music service will kick back just 58% of subscription revenues to indie artists who use the platform.
The figure, which doesn't apply to major labels according to Digital Music News, pales in comparison to the 70% in subscription revenues Spotify offers comparable rights owners. The 58% subscription revenue figure is applicable to both individual and family accounts on the soon-to-launch Apple Music, the latter of which costs five dollars more than the baseline $9.99/month fee.
Perhaps even more damning for artists and rights owners, Apple Music will pay out precisely 0% for music released during the service's initial three-month trial period. That means if you're an artist that releases music on the service between June 30 and September 30 you can expect nothing in return financially.
Meanwhile, Apple is on the hot seat for potentially illegal negotiations with music labels and is being investigated for violating antitrust laws in two states, New York and Connecticut, according to The New York Times. The investigation will look into whether Apple broke the law in pressuring and/or conspiring with music labels to migrate away from competing "freemium" services like Spotify.
