Apple Music and other streaming services to have to pay out more royalty fees

Streaming services like Apple Music will have to pay more to songwriters and publishers, according to the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA). All the details for other rates from the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), like the per song mechanical on CDs and downloads, haven’t yet been disclosed.

The new ruling covers a five-year term from 2018-2022. Two tiers of a three-tier formula to determine royalties are still unchanged and in effect. In the change, rates will got up from 10.5% of revenue to 15.1% during a five year term (a 43% gain over five years).

However, publishers didn’t get their preferred outcome of a two-tier formula. Apple, Spotify and the music services, meanwhile, look to have prevailed in a request for subscriber discounts.