In a non-public filing with the US Copyright Royalty Board, Apple proposes simplified flat rate of 9.1¢ per 100 streams in songwriting royalties
In the music industry's streaming battles, the fight extends to even the minutiae of copyright. — Apple, in a government filing on Friday …
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple's streaming economics have been fought deal by deal since launch: it failed to persuade labels to cut Beats-era licensing costs ahead of a ~$10 price point (licensing talks stalled), then set its own terms with rights owners — 71.5% of US revenue shared, nothing during the free trial (the 71.5% revenue-share structure).
This filing moves the fight to the other side of the ledger: songwriting royalties, where Apple wants the US Copyright Royalty Board to replace the existing formula with a flat 9.1¢ per 100 streams. A regulated, standardized rate would cap a cost line Apple has so far had to negotiate piecemeal.
First-order effects
- Songwriters and their publishers face a proposed shift from percentage-based mechanical royalties to a fixed per-stream rate, making their income from Apple streams predictable but decoupled from subscription pricing.
- Apple gains a simpler, forecastable publishing cost structure across its catalog if the Copyright Royalty Board accepts the flat rate.
Second-order effects
- Spotify and other streaming services face pressure to back the same simplified rate at the Board — or defend the status quo against a rival arguing for lower, cleaner accounting.
- Publishers and songwriter advocates are pushed into a regulatory proceeding they might otherwise have avoided, since a flat rate accepted for one major service sets a reference point for everyone.
Third-order effects
- Rate-setting migrates from private label negotiations toward standardized per-stream formulas adjudicated by the Copyright Royalty Board, with the eventual winners being whoever can argue the math best in filings rather than boardrooms.
- The push for simple, legible per-stream numbers foreshadows the transparency battles that followed — Apple itself later went public claiming a penny per stream, roughly double Spotify's average — suggesting per-stream rates become both a cost input and a marketing claim.
The trend: Streaming royalty economics are shifting from bespoke label-by-label deals toward standardized, regulatorily set per-stream rates that double as public talking points.