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Apple Paying 0.2 Cents for Each Song Streamed Free During Apple Music Trial Period

When I first read this I thought in my head, how nice the artist will get $0.20 cents a stream.

At less than a penny for each stream you might as well just not pay them for the three months. I feel bad for those artist who aren't well known. Maybe they'll make $15.00 for the whole three months.
 
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KALLT said:
Generous in relation to what? In the worst case, people will put their subscriptions with other providers on hold to listen to Apple Music during the trial and people who currently don't stream may not continue doing it afterwards. The onus is still with Apple to demonstrate that this temporary loss of revenue will actually lead to net profit increase after the first trial period ends. Spotify and others still have the advantage of network effects.
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I doubt the onus is in fact on Apple to prove anything. If Apple does not sing up sufficient subscribers because folks listen to other streaming services there is no onus. It will just be the market speaking. I don't think anyone thinks that is going to happen. Look at Apple Maps. It seems like it is move more data than Google Maps or at least comparable. And google maps is GREAT. Spotify isn't that good. Apple Music will probably gain enough traction to be the market leader fairly quickly.

I feel a bit sad for Songza which I think is a nice service. But I'm pretty sure this fall I will be a subscriber to Apple Music.
 
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Manzzle said:
When I first read this I thought in my head, how nice the artist will get $0.20 cents a stream.

At less than a penny for each stream you might as well just not pay them for the three months. I feel bad for those artist who aren't well known. Maybe they'll make $15.00 for the whole three months.
Click to expand...

Those artists aren't getting anything from streaming anyway. That is the main issue with streaming. It isn't an Apple issue though.
 
Let this be a lesson kids. If you can get only half a million people to seek out and listen to your song, you can then afford to pay the $1000 it would cost to have it mastered. (If you get a cheap mastering engineer)
 
I look at as paying a flat fee for unlimited access to the near-entire iTunes catalog; streaming or downloading for off-line listening is merely the method on how I listen to it...

Abazigal said:
I disagree with this solution though.

To me, the whole allure of music streaming is precisely so that I can access any song I want, when I want it. If I have to plan ahead and decide what songs I might want to listen to later in the day and download those songs first, it kinda defeats the whole purpose of using an on-demand streaming service, IMO.

I am not saying it is not a valid solution, it's just not a solution people want to hear.
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pragmatous said:
Does Apple understand yet that we have data caps of 2GB for most people and that streaming isn't really an option?
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How many people really do have 2GB data caps? Maybe it's a US only thing?
In Japan, my carrier's basic plan is "capped" at 8GB/month and throttled beyond that. I would need to stream music for about 5 hours a day everyday exclusively over the 4G network (without using Wi-Fi hotspots) to hit that cap.
 
So if I release a 2 min song tomorrow and listen to it continuously I can make about $120 in those three months. After that I'm still making $30 per month after my subscription. Money for nothing....
 
a0me said:
How many people really do have 2GB data caps? Maybe it's a US only thing?
In Japan, my carrier's basic plan is "capped" at 8GB/month and throttled beyond that. I would need to stream music for about 5 hours a day everyday exclusively over the 4G network (without using Wi-Fi hotspots) to hit that cap.
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I don't think this is a U.S. thing. The ads is see here have 10, 20 GB, and Unlimited data plans and unlimited plans are very cheap.
Don't know where this guy is from but his carrier sucks
 
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That should certainly help struggling independent artists. If they want to buy a dime bar for example.
 
pragmatous said:
Does Apple understand yet that we have data caps of 2GB for most people and that streaming isn't really an option?
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1) Download tracks to play multiple times without counting toward data limit.
2) Find one a billion free wifi hot spots in the world.
3) It will take a ton of streaming to hit that cap if you keep the quality in check.
4) Buying through the iTunes Store isn't going away.
5) Apple Music is not a required purchase.
 
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Aiwaz418 said:
Yes, in fact, they do.
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Quite scary that they should not. Wifi throughout the uni where I'm working, and thank goodness for it!

This does seem like a very small amount. How much could it come to if everyone streamed very short songs 24/7 during that time? Seems like a decent challenge lol.
 
louiek said:
So if I release a 2 min song tomorrow and listen to it continuously I can make about $120 in those three months. After that I'm still making $30 per month after my subscription. Money for nothing....
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I'm sure they must have some way to prevent this if not, I'm going into the music biz.
 
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ericinboston said:
But what counts as a "stream"? If the song is 3:45 long, does a stream count only if the user listens to all 3:45?...or what about 3:30? Or 1 minute? I rarely listen to 100.00% of any song...whether on my iPod or radio...I've had this listening habit for 30+ years. This topic is similar to the "count" feature of iDevices and iTunes...you have to listen to 100% of the song in order for the count to increase...drives me nuts...it should be if you listen to more than 50% of it (or gasp! make it configurable)
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There's a formula, and it is not "all or nothing." This is something all the streaming services have had to hammer out with the rights owners. I don't have the specifics in front of me, but after listening for a particular length of time the stream counts as a full song (they won't get cheated if you don't listen to the entire fade-out).

lowercaseperson said:
Apologies for being a little off topic but a do have two questions:
1. Does the free trial begin at launch and end three months later regardless of when you sign up, or could I sign up, say this November, and get three months?
2. Any news of Sonos support?
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Free trial is 90 days from the time someone signs up. So, yes, if you sign up in November you'll get 90 days (unless something changes in the interim). Sonos? Most likely, not different than things are today with playing music from iTunes on the computer or the iOS Music app - you'll still be using that software (with these new features added, of course).
 
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