So I make music right? I can make money on that music by performing live, selling tracks and albums digitally, or make a fraction of a sold track by allowing songs to be streamed to users on a subscription service..
Now, I have already made the music because I am an artist and I love to make music. I perform live to make the most amount of money I can out of the music I have made. In order for people to know I exist and that I make good music I might offer my songs to be played on radio for a fee, post samples on social media, or maybe I distribute my music through a service like iTunes that will show my music next to artists that are similar.
In comes a new Apple Music service. Now, I am a small time artist, Independent label and I don't have massive reserves to market my music. So, I make a little money on Spotify right now, and some of the money from digital sales on iTunes as well. I still make the most money by selling tickets to see me perform in concert, and this is why I tour. After each tour, people who came to the concert might go look me up on iTunes/ Spotify, and I may make a bit more money from that. Apple Music comes in and says, "You can be on our service, but if a user is new, then they can listen to your music, or anyones, for free for three months. Oh, and we have this service ready for 100's of millions of Apple devices right away."
If I say no, I make no money indefinitely from Apple Music, and people who will still inevitably use Apple Music can't hear my stuff, and maybe some of those people forget about me or never discover me.
If I say yes, the small percent I get from streaming services as people play my song are not paid to me for three months from Apple Music. After three months, I then have the potential to reach millions more people, who may find me for the first time using the only service they have, Apple Music. They may decide that I am good enough to see live, and buy a concert ticket as I play live.
---- Does anyone get this?