Taylor Swift pulls 1989 album from Apples Music Streaming UPDATE

Swift In an open letter to Apple, said she was withholding the record as she was unhappy with the Three-Month Free Trial offered to subscribers.

“We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation.”

“I’m not sure you know that Apple Music will not be paying writers, producers, or artists for those three months,” she wrote.

“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,” she continued.

“We know how astronomically successful Apple has been and we know that this incredible company 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.

“Three months is a long time to go unpaid, and it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing.”

This is not the first time Swift has spoken out against streaming music – she pulled her entire catalogue from Spotify last November and had refused to offer 1989 on streaming services, saying the business had “shrunk the numbers of paid album sales drastically”.

Taylor Swift pulls 1989 album from Apples Music Streaming UPDATE

1989 went on to become one of the biggest-selling albums of 2014 and has sold more than 4.9 million copies in the US alone. Ref: BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-33216778

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UPDATE:

Taylor Swift appears to have prompted a policy change at Apple, after threatening to withhold her album “1989” from the company’s streaming music service over royalty payments.

Apple responded to Swift late Sunday night in a series of tweets from Eddy Cue, a key lieutenant of CEO Tim Cook.

“#AppleMusic will pay artist for streaming, even during customer’s free trial period,” Cue tweeted, adding that “We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple.”

Swift quickly acknowledged the change. “I am elated and relieved,” she tweeted. “Thank you for your words of support today. They listened to us.”

Swift said she’s been discussing the Apple policy with others: “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. We simply do not respect this particular call.”

Swift previously removed her albums from Spotify in a dispute over compensation for streaming music. She explained her decision about Apple in a Tumblr blog post on Sunday morning, several days after her music label confirmed that “1989” wouldn’t be available on the service at launch.

The blog post, “To Apple, Love Taylor,” was immediately shared tens of thousands of times, showing the power of the artist’s megaphone and potentially creating a publicity nightmare for Apple.

Apple announced its Apple Music streaming service earlier this month. The free trial period is seen as a crucial part of the company’s strategy to attract paying subscribers.

Ref: CNN MONEY https://money.cnn.com/2015/06/21/media/taylor-swift-1989-apple-music/