Apple Changes Tune After Swift Speaks Out

Taylor Swift had criticised Apple for not paying music royalties

APPLE  has bowed to concerns raised by Taylor Swift and will pay royalties to artists during a three-month free trial period for its music streaming service.

Swift had refused to put her hit album 1989 on the new service saying “it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing”.

The pop star joined independent labels in criticising the US firm’s plans not to pay royalties during the free trial period.

The 25-year-old said it would hurt young artists trying to break into the music industry, and called the decision “shocking” and “disappointing”.

“We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation,” she wrote in a blog post entitled “To Apple, Love Taylor” on tumblr.
Apple had already agreed to share revenue when paid subscriptions begin.

But executive Eddy Cue said today that Swift’s criticism underscored complaints he had heard from independent artists and spurred the company to change its position on payments during the free trial period.

He tweeted: “Apple will always make sure that artists are paid. AppleMusic will pay artist for streaming, even during customer’s free trial period. We hear you taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple.”

In response to the victory, Swift tweeted: “I am elated and relieved. Thank you for your words of support today. They listened to us.”

Swift had said she was making a stand not for herself but for new artists or bands, young songwriters and producers who would not be paid for a quarter of a year’s worth of plays.
“These are not the complaints of a spoiled, petulant child,” she added.

But some people were sceptical, with several people posting on Reddit’s technology forum that they suspected the public u-turn was a publicity stunt for both parties.

Last November, the singer had pulled her entire music catalogue from Spotify, saying music streaming had “shrunk the numbers of paid album sales drastically”.

She claimed Spotify was conducting a “grand experiment” which failed to fairly compensate the creators of music.

The move, while risky, paid off for the singer as 1989 became the biggest debut of 2014, selling more than 4.9 million albums in the US.