AppleInc. worked with the Copyright Royalty Board to submit a newproposal for songwriting royalty rates paid by music streaming services, The New York Times reported July 15,citing a government filing.

According to the filing, the iPhone maker suggested settinga songwriting royalty rate of 9.1 cents per 100 streams for a song. The filingwas submitted as part of the Copyright Royalty Board's proceeding to setstatutory rates for downloads and interactive streaming services from 2018 to2022.

Spotify Ltd.,Alphabet Inc.'sGoogle Inc.,Pandora Media Inc.,Amazon.com Inc. andthe Recording Industry Association of America, or RIAA, were also expected toparticipate in the proceeding, according to the report.

If approved, the proposal is reportedly expected to helpApple better competewith the likes of Spotify and the latter's ad-supported tier, which allowsusers to listen to music for free.

An Apple spokesperson reportedly confirmed the proposal butdeclined to comment.

In March, the RIAA slammed free, ad-supported music streaming services forallegedly "enriching themselves" at the expense of recording artists.