In theory, negotiations over royalties would be simply bargaining over some number, like a percentage of revenue or dollar value per song played. In practice,

In theory, negotiations over royalties would be simply bargaining over some number, like a percentage of revenue or dollar value per song played. In practice, it involves all sorts of weird deals like this free trial. But ultimately, this is just about how much money musicians get for their music. It is no different to negotiations that determine the price of steel or wool. The only reason that these deals attract so much publicity is that people like musicians because they are so cool and beautiful. When people have a cool head, most can see that this is a matter between the musicians and the company, and no one else has a practical or ethical reason to be involved.