On July 15th 2016, Apple submitted a proposal for a fixed royalty rate to the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board. Apple's stated intention for the proposal is to simplify the way that music streaming companies pay songwriters and publishers. Under the new proposal, all streaming services would have to pay 9.1 cents per 100 streams.
Music streamers with "free tiers" such as Spotify and YouTube will be most noticeably affected. These ad supported services don't bring in as money as the subscription services, and therefore have a much smaller revenue payout. Apple, however, says that it's proposed royalty rate structure would only make accounting simpler and more transparent.
The U.S. Copyright Royalty Board is a panel of three judges, whose job is to set the terms and rates for statutory licenses. The Board is still in the process of determining the statutory rates to be paid to songwriters and publishers for downloads and streams for the period from 2018 to 2022. Until they rule, Apple's proposal will remain just that. However, the era of the "free tier" may be coming to a close.
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