Interesting thread. First, any time Apple is mentioned, we hear all the hate spewed, which I do not grok. Second, the free streaming is a marketing technique to allow Apple to entice (hook) people into their new system to extract money from them. If they are successful, they get more revenue which is shared with the artists. So, what they are really asking is for the artists to partner with them on a new sales avenue, at no cost to the artist. Apple is picking up all the expenses. That is my take on it. On the other hand, I may not be correct as I do not listen to music at all.
LOL, uh, no, the point of this article is that it's not - it's actually passing the cost of the three free months on to the artists directly.