Apple’s licensing terms for iTunes Radio were released to independent labels giving the first look at how the service will compare to others from a licensing standpoint.
Among the key points released by the Wall Street Journal, Apple will pay .13 cents each time a song is played, as well as 15% of net advertising revenue in the first year before rising to .14 and 19% in the second. Songs already owned by a listener on iTunes will not require payment, nor will promotional “Heat Seeker” tracks or songs that are skipped by the user within 20 seconds of starting.
The licensing terms also include language for use of music in Spoken Word programming. Apple will not have to pay the labels royalties for clips used as background or production pieces. While the Journal states, “its unlikely Apple will invest much in creating such programming, given that it has long shied from creating its own content,” the company will be producing music programming channels for iTunes Radio. The company could simply be looking ahead and covering themselves should they decide to get into spoken word programming at a later date, but with iTunes also being the largest repository of Podcasts this could be a way for the company to integrate its iAds mobile advertising platform into those as well.