Taylor Swift called out Apple Music and Apple Music responded.
Taylor Swift saved the music industry with only a few tweets and a serious threat. Less than 24 hours after Taylor Swift criticized Apple for not paying royalties to artists during the three-month free-trial period for its new Apple Music service, the company signaled that the policy has been reversed via Twitter.
“I find it to be shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company,” Taylor Swift wrote on her Tumblr page. In addition, she showed support for independent labels.
Swift emphasized that the decision “is not about me,” but rather about independent labels and new musicians:
This is about the young songwriter who just got his or her first cut and thought that the royalties from that would get them out of debt. This is about the producer who works tirelessly to innovate and create, just like the innovators and creators at Apple are pioneering in their field…but will not get paid for a quarter of a year’s worth of plays on his or her songs.
Recently, many independent labels have argued that they would be the most affected by the loss of revenues. In fact, The Guardian reported that Beggas Group, a UK-based indie label that represents the popular group FKA twigs, said:
Whilst we understand the logic of [Apple’s] proposal and their aim to introduce a subscription-only service, we struggle to see why rights owners and artists should bear this aspect of Apple’s customer acquisition costs.
Taylor Swift concluded the post by urging Apple to revisit their policy:
But I say to Apple with all due respect, it’s not too late to change this policy and change the minds of those in the music industry who will be deeply and gravely affected by this. We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation.
“Apple will always make sure that artist are paid,” tweeted Apple’s Eddy Cue, Apple’s Chief Content Czar on Sunday night in a series of three tweets that called out Swift.
Apple’s response may have hurt their chances to compete with major streaming services like Spotify and Jay-Z’s Tidal.
Previously, Taylor Swift pointed out that Apple’s refusal to pay royalties during the initial period meant that she would hold back her latest album, “1989” from being available on Apple Music.
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