Robert Levine, writing for Billboard, about Apple’s new proposed royalty structure for streaming music services:
Apple’s suggested royalty structure would make accounting simpler and more transparent, but it would also make it more costly to run a free service, since streaming companies would have to pay a minimum rate, rather than a percentage of revenue. The current system arguably benefits Spotify and YouTube, since their free tiers don’t generate much revenue compared to paid services.
Seems win/win for Apple here: They score points with artists, and they make Spotify look bad.