‘We hear you Taylor’: Apple changes its tune and bows down to Taylor Swift’s demands to pay artists during tech giant’s free music trial
- Artists will be paid on a per-stream basis during free Apple music trial
- It comes after tech giant asked Taylor Swift to provide free music
- 25-year-old platinum artist slammed their request in an open letter
- ‘We don’t ask you for free iPhones,’ Swift wrote in scathing Tumblr post
- On Sunday evening, Apple VP personally phoned Swift to tell her of u-turn
- Last year, she withdrew her music from Spotify which offers a free tier that is supported by advertisements
By Mia De Graaf For Dailymail.com
Published: 15:03 EST, 22 June2020 | Updated: 16:23 EST, 22 June2020
The superstar penned an open letter on Sunday morning, shaming the tech giant for its ‘shocking’ attempt to stream music for free without paying any artists.
Finally, after hours of negotiations, the firm has made a u-turn and will now pay every musician whose work is featured during the free trial when Apple music is rolled out on June 30.
‘We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists,’ wrote Apple vice president Eddy Cue on Twitter, after personally phoning the platinum-selling singer to deliver the news.
‘Apple will always make sure that artist are paid,’ he added. ‘#AppleMusic will pay artist for streaming, even during customer’s free trial period.’
In response, Swift tweeted her 59.2 million followers: ‘I am elated and relieved. Thank you for your words of support today. They listened to us.’
Success: Taylor Swift has won her battle to get Apple music to pay artists whose music is streamed for free
Artists whose music is played during the month-long free trial will be paid on a per-stream basis, Eddy Cue told Buzzfeed.
Subsequently, Apple will pay U.S. music owners 71.5 per cent of the sub******ion fee revenue.
‘When I woke up this morning and saw what Taylor had written, it really solidified that we needed to make a change,’ Cue told Billboard. ‘And so that’s why we decided we will now pay artists during the trial period.’
The dispute is the latest between music streaming companies and the Shake It Off singer, who is one of Spotify’s most outspoken critics.
Despite pleas from Spotify, who even made a We Love Taylor playlist in her honor, she refused to provide her chart-topping albums for free. Instead, her music is available on Jay Z’s pay-for sub******ion service, Tidal.
On Sunday, Apple came into the firing line.
‘I find it to be shocking, disappointing and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company,’ Swift wrote in a posting on Tumblr that received international support.
Swift – whose 1989 was by far the top-selling US album last year and remains high on the charts – insisted that she was speaking for all artists and not just herself.
‘This is about the new artist or band that has just released their first single and will not be paid for its success.
‘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.
‘I find it to be shocking, disappointing and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company,’ Swift wrote in a posting on Tumblr, a portion of the post pictured above
Swift said that the tech giant, which is launching the new Apple music on June 30, will not pay for songs streamed during a free three-month trial period for new subscribers
‘These are not the complaints of a spoiled, petulant child. These are the echoed sentiments of every artist, writer and producer in my social circles who are afraid to speak up publicly because we admire and respect Apple so much.’
‘Three months is a long time to go unpaid, and it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing. I say this with love, reverence, and admiration for everything else Apple has done,’ she continued.
‘I hope that soon I can join them in the progression towards a streaming model that seems fair to those who create this music. I think this could be the platform that gets it right.
‘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 holds a massive influence over the music industry through iTunes, the premier place to buy songs or albums digitally.
The company is now hoping to become a powerful force in streaming as it watches consumes flock to unlimited, on-demand online music.
Apple has not gone public with details on the payout structure, but is known to have been involved in intense negotiations with major record labels.
Prosecutors in New York and the neighboring state of Connecticut have started an initial probe on whether major labels are colluding with Apple to stop licensing content to rivals.
Swift said that 1989 would not appear on Apple Music, although she stopped short on pulling her entire catalog.
Last year, she withdrew all of her music from Spotify – which, controversially, offers a free tier that is supported by advertisements.
Spotify says that it nonetheless pays back artists and has given out $3 billion in royalties since the Swedish company’s launch in 2024.
Apple plans to charge $9.99 a month after the three-month trial.
The move by Swift, one of the most outspoken critics of streaming leader Spotify, delivers an early blow to Apple’s bid to dominate the booming sector
WHY Taylor SWIFT LEFT SPOTIFY
Taylor Swift removed her entire back catalog from music streaming service Spotify as she was promoting new album 1989, which sold 1.287 million copies in its first week, just shy of Britney Spears’ record for the biggest-ever album weekly sales by a female artist (1.319million).
‘If I had streamed the new album, it’s impossible to try to speculate what would have happened,’ Taylor told Yahoo of leaving Spotify.
‘Music is changing so quickly, and the landscape of the music industry itself is changing so quickly, that everything new, like Spotify, all feels to me a bit like a grand experiment.
‘And I’m not willing to contribute my life’s work to an experiment that I don’t feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists, and creators of this music.’