A new report states that independent record labels behind artists including Phoebe Bridgers and Vampire Weekend are pushing back on Apple’s plans to pay more money for songs recorded in higher-quality audio — a move they say funnels cash towards megastars and away from other musicians.

The friction surrounds Apple’s preference for songs produced using Dolby Atmos, a “spatial audio” technology that surrounds listeners with sound from all directions. Higher-end audio is a crucial edge for Apple Music over rival Spotify, but it costs more money to produce.

Apple last week told music companies that it would pay up to 10 per cent more in royalties for songs produced in spatial audio. But the tech group is not paying more money in total: rather, that extra 10 per cent will come out of a fixed pot of money. As a result, songs that are not “spatial” will receive less money.  

Some of the most influential independent record groups — Beggars Group, the company behind Vampire Weekend and Adele; Secretly, which houses acts including Phoebe Bridgers and Bon Iver; and Partisan Records, the label behind Ezra Collective — have expressed concerns about Apple’s policy in recent days, according to people familiar with the conversations. 

“It’s literally going to take the money out of independent labels and their artists, to benefit the biggest companies in the marketplace,” said a senior executive at a large independent record company. For more, read the full report by the Financial Times.