Apple Inks New Multi-Year Deals With Record Labels

Your favorite artists will remain on Apple Music well into the future

by
Rob LeFebvre
Senior News Editor
Rob LeFebvre has been a freelance technology writer for 10 years and an educator for 20. His articles have appeared in 148Apps, Cult of Mac, Engadget, and many others.
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Rob LeFebvre
Published March 12, 2020

Why This Matters

Streaming services like Apple Music rely on availability of the hottest artists and tracks from the biggest labels. These new deals will ensure Apple has access for its subscribers well into the future.

Apple Music logo behind a pair of over-ear headphones
Getty Images

Apple has inked several new multi-year deals with some of the biggest record labels recently, according to Financial Times, as reported by MacRumors.

So What: While industry contracts might seem a bit too much inside baseball, the fact that Apple has been able to come to terms with labels for massively popular artists like Taylor Swift, Lizzo, Adele, and more, just means that you'll be able to listen to them for a lot longer.

As MacRumors points out, competitor Spotify has had trouble recently renewing their own rights to music, so this could give Apple a clear advantage over time.

Conflicting numbers: Some sources put Apple Music on top of the paid subscriber heap, while others point to Spotify having more subscribers and listens overall. Both services need to retain their large catalogs of popular music to keep members paying their monthly dues.

Bottom line: It's unlikely that Spotify won't ink their own deals with all the major labels in the months to come, but Apple's ability to work with these large media companies is definitely one of its strengths in the streaming music wars.

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