Apple to pay 70% of music subscription revenue to labels, publishers

[SAN FRANCISCO] Apple Inc said it would pay more than 70 per cent revenue from music subscriptions to music owners.

In the United States, Apple will pay music owners 71.5 per cent revenue from its US$9.99 per month music streaming service, Apple said. The number will average around 73 per cent overseas.

Technology website Re/code first reported the news on Monday.

Apple Music, launched last week, may not differ much from other music-streaming services, but comes with Apple's deep music roots, global brand and hundreds of millions of iTunes customers.

The payments will be to people who own sound recordings that Apple Music will play and owners of publishing rights to songs'compositions, Re/code said.

Apple will not pay music owners anything for its three-month free trial period. The company's payouts were slightly higher than industry standard, the website reported, citing Apple executive Robert Kondrk.

REUTERS