Yesterday, pop artist Taylor Swift published a letter on her Tumblr page accusing Apple for not paying artists during the first three-month trial of their new streaming service. Today, however, the technology giant seems to have changed its mind.
Just a few weeks ago, the company announced their new product, Apple Music, hoping that users will leave Spotify behind in the coming months and switch to their service. On top of the typical streaming services one expects, the company also launched a 24-hour radio station called “Beats 1”, which aims to “bring you a fresh take on the genres you love” .
Apple announced that Apple Music will be available for free to its customers for the first three months, and will charge $9.99 each month after the trial.
“Not the complaints of a spoiled, petulant child”
Taylor Swift hardly criticised the streaming service denying all her music to Apple. But this is not the first time she’s made such moves. In fact, the artist is known for her open battle against streaming services after pulling off all her music from Spotify last November, just days before releasing her new album 1989, which saw records sales.
The artist, though, described how “These are not the complaints of a spoiled, petulant child”, but “echoed sentiments” of all artists who still have not achieved her same success and would struggle to work for three months unpaid.
Swift underlined how these remarks are not about her personal situation, by emphasising in her letter that she is at her fifth album and able to support herself. Instead, she clarifies how this is about the artists who are trying to breakout in the music scene and are hindered by the popularity of streaming services which give them little to no compensation.
A very low pay
Spotify revealed that it pays artists as little as $0.07 per stream. So it is understandable why artists would stand up against the low pay offered by streaming services, which are steadily becoming everyone’s main source for music playback.
“We know that this incredible company [Apple] has the money to pay artists, writers and producers for the 3 month trial period… even if it is free for the fans trying it out” Swift wrote. “We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation”, she concluded.
Taylor Swift’s power
But as Spotify made no changes to its payment policies and just limited itself to quoting one of her songs begging the artist to change her mind, Apple decided to “accommodate” her request.
The company announced today that it will now pay all artists during the trial months, making it a victory for the singer’s fight against the injustices of music streaming compensation.
In a tweet today, Swift made it clear, once again, that this fight is not just about her. She wrote that “they listened to us”, implying that she is fighting for both her rights and those of all artists in the music industry. Calvin Harris, Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, sarcastically tweeted “I just played a gig inside a giant owl and my girl just changed the music scene. What a day!”.
