Spotify payments to rights owners rise - but Apple's challenge looms

Spotify's total payments to rights holders rose by another $300 million in the first quarter of 2015, according to Billboard. This means the company has now paid out $3 billion to music rights owners since launching in 2008, $2 billion of which has come in since the beginning of 2014.

Apple Inc. is poised to unveil its new streaming and music services today (08.06.15). Taking on the likes of Spotify and Pandora, the Cupertino, Calif., tech giant is expected to announce a $10-a-month streaming service and revamped Internet radio feature at its developer conference in San Francisco.

I'm not sure there is anything particularly groundbreaking in this article - and whilst it champion's Daniel Ek's (Spotify biased) point of view, the more interesting point is probably that in the wings, Apple and Google wait like vultures wth a hungry smile on their faces, gently salivating, waiting to benefit from all the hard work (and mistakes) Spotify laid the foundations for .......

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/07/daniel-ek-spotify-free-music-save-industry-not-kill-it?CMP=share_btn_fb