Per stream can be very misleading because if Apple pays double per stream but the song gets double the streams on Spotify the payout is exactly the same. There's an argument to be made that if you got as many streams on Apple as you do on Spotify you'd make more money but let's be real, if Apple got as many streams as Spotify their per stream price would also be closer to what Spotify pays. These companies aren't paying extra out of kindness. Their per stream pricing is higher because they know they (on average) won't get Spotify number of streams. They can undercut Spotify to make themselves look better while most likely paying out roughly as much (or maybe even less than) what Spotify pays out.