Apple Music to pay 10% more for Spatial Audio tracks starting this month

Apple Music will pay artists 10% more in royalties on tracks where a Spatial Audio version is available, the streamer said in a memo to labels and distributor partners.

The higher royalties begin with January payouts and will be calculated on all streams for the track, whether or not the listener plays the track on a Spatial Audio device.

The higher payments are motivated in part because, unlike Spotify and other competitors, Apple also profits from the sales of the iPhones, iPads, Beats Pro, and other devices needed to play Apple Music Spatial Audio tracks along with most of the headphones, including AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, required to experience the immersive surround sound-like audio the Spatial Audio delivers.

Bruce Houghton