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TECH GIANT APPLE may have a market capitalisation of around $726 billion, but even they can’t stop Taylor Swift.
The company has announced it will change its policy of not paying artists for the three month trial period of its Apple Music service, after Swift penned an open letter, calling the decision “shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company.”
Swift said that she was speaking up for new artists who couldn’t afford not to be paid by the streaming service.
Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services, said late Sunday that the company had shifted course and would compensate for streams in all stages.
Apple music “will pay artist(s) for streaming, even during (customers’) free trial period,” he wrote on Twitter.
Mimicking Swift’s earlier protest, Cue wrote, “We love you (Taylor) and indie artists. Love, Apple.”
He told Billboard that he had rang Swift, who plays two sold-out gigs in the 3Arena next week.
Swift has refused to allow her catalogue stream on Spotify, saying the company doesn’t compensate artists properly.
Apple Music will give users a three-month trial, but will charge $9.99 thereafter.
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If she could write to Irish water now and tell them to shake it off twould be great
Bloody Enda – he didn’t even write to Apple to support Taylor!
That was a Swift turnaround by Apple. Sorry.
She’ll be the Apple of many a musicians’ eye after this.
Right on Cue. They were snookered!
Hahahahahahaha
Proper order. ‘Hon the Taylor Ya, big legend!
Clearly this is just a publicity stunt to get apple music in the press and advertise the fact that Taylor Swift will be on their service and not Spotify.
I’m site it is nothing to do with the current negotiations surrounding her album sales margins with iTunes. though it was nice of her to think of the new artist (who will benefit in the 10s of €) compared with swift who loses hundreds of thousands a month by streaming at preferential rates to smaller artists.
i would so give her the best 10 seconds of her life
More like yer own.
Well done, Taylor Swift, excellently argued.
I heard a sample of her work on radio ths am…awful keening. Let her make her money, thats what its all about, exclusively. Consumer choice rules. Money money money…
did you read her letter to Apple Aoife? in it she basically said that Apple are sitting on BILLIONS in the bank yet want artists to go three months without pay so Apple can get a service up and running. she called their hypocrisy and they backed down immediately. fair play to her.
@Aoife – And you work for free Aoife do you? How noble of you!
Swiftly does it
Taylor swift is gonna bring down the trillion dollar Apple empire expect their CEO’s resignation any moment .
She is wrong of course … why should Apple pay a portion of the subscription, while the customer is not paying any subscription … #justsayin
@Tom – Why should artists forego their due payment in order to accommodate Apple?
What baffles me is that everyone here seems to think pop music like Taylor Swift etc has artistic merit.
Believe Lars Ulrich from Metallica argued something very similar back in the 90′s and he and the band were subsequently lambasted. Interesting to see the mostly positive support for her in delivering a similar message.
have your say