Apple Is Only Giving Indie Artists 58% Of Streaming Royalties, Company Facing Antitrust Investigations

IS APPLE PLAYING DIRTY?

(AllHipHop News) Unlike rival Tidal, the launch of Apple Music was met with mostly positive reactions, but the new streaming service is already catching some heat on several fronts. There are now reports that Apple is only paying independent artists 58% of subscription revenues as compared to Spotify’s 70%.

[ALSO READ: Apple Officially Set To Launch Music Streaming Service To Take On Spotify & Tidal]

Those Apple payout percentages apparently do not apply to major labels that signed first-run deals before the service was announced last week. While users will get free access to the platform for the first three months, artists will not see any revenue at all during that period.

Apple is also facing investigations in New York and Connecticut over possible antitrust violations. According to the New York Times, government officials are checking to see if the company pressured or conspired with music labels to stop supporting “freemium” services such as Spotify. The European Commission is said to be looking into Apple’s negotiations with the music labels as well.

Apple was previously accused of purposely interfering with Tidal’s placement on its App Store charts. There were claims Apple’s Vice President of iTunes Content told Universal Music Group executives if their artists put music exclusively on Tidal they would not be promoted as featured artists on iTunes. Co-owner Jay Z also accused competing companies of conducting a “smear campaign” against Tidal.

[ALSO READ: Spotify’s Contract With Sony Music Leaks – How Does Spotify’s Stream Payout Compare To Jay Z’s Tidal?]