As others point out, it doesn't make much sense for Apple to attempt this (not paying content producers during a 3-month trial) for the sake of money alone - th

As others point out, it doesn't make much sense for Apple to attempt this (not paying content producers during a 3-month trial) for the sake of money alone - they have the cash (even if subject to high taxes) to pay for a loss leader like this. If that's not the primary motivation, I can think of two alternatives: 1. Apple lacks confidence in rolling this out - they don't even know if they'd make back their money using a loss leader of this magnitude. They don't feel that the service alone has any meaningful advantage over the competition, so they feel a need to compensate with an extraordinarily long trial period, and they're willing to abuse some of their market power to strong-arm content producers into (hopefully) covering the bill. As a tiny part of their overall business strategy, they are unwilling to make any large bets on it, regardless of their ability to cover a loss. - or - 2. (probably more likely) Apple is so myopically over-confident that they believe this service will disrupt the music industry in the same way the App Store changed software distribution. They honestly feel that they are creating a new market here, not trying to steal market share from other streaming services. Consequently, they don't feel a need to justify covering any expense to content producers because in Apple's mind, content producers will give anything for the privilege of existing on Apple's revolutionary new service. This would represent a new opportunity for revenue above and beyond what the music industry has already come to expect.