The battle for streaming music supremacy is still being waged, but Apple may have stymied its hopes of being a serious competitor if its royalty rates don't improve.
A new report from the New York Post indicated the recording industry is very unhappy with Apple's proposed royalty rates for streamed tracks.
The music industry insiders speaking to the post revealed the Copyright Royalty Board has a set rate for non-broadcast companies (ie - they don't own a radio station) of 21 cents per 100 songs streamed.
Apple's offer is an insultingly low 6 cents per 100 songs strea med, or three and a half times less than what the Copyright Royalty Board deemed a fair deal.
iRadio rebuffed
Apple's hard bargaining may leave the company on the outside looking in with its rumored streaming service.
Pandora, which offers its service for free, currently pays double what Apple is offering, while Spotify pays almost six times as much (35 cents/100 songs) for its subscription service.
Even though Apple's service is believed to be different than the on-demand services provided by the competition, the record industry has so far balked at the low-ball offer.
With more competitive services like Google/YouTube and Beats attempting to enter the crowding market, it would appear the record industry has the advantage in bargaining prices.
Another source told the Post that counter-offers were being prepared, so it's not like any of the players have walked away from the table in spite of the dramatic entry offer from Apple.
Just how far the record industry's biggest guns like Sony/ATV, Universal, and Warner are willing to bend to accommodate Apple remains to be seen.
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