In a move that is demonstrative of the enormous amount of influence and power that Taylor Swift wields in the music world, Apple’s Eddy Cue has just announced via Twitter that Apple Music will alter its three-month free trial plan to now include royalties for artists.
We recently looked at the way some independent artists have criticised Apple’s decision to not pay artists for that period, but it now looks as though the power of the voice (Swift’s voice, anyway) has actually led to real change.
The swift decision (no pun intended) was made after the Shake It Off singer threatened to pull her latest album, 1989, from Apple’s start-up streaming service. In an epic essay posted on Swift’s Tumblr page, she details exactly why she refuses to let Apple stream her album.
However, far from being about not being fairly compensated herself for the album, who after her fifth album can, “can support myself, my band, crew, and entire management team by playing live shows”, the popstrel instead complains about all the struggling up-and-coming artists and songwriters who will not make a dime during the three-month free trial offered by Apple to new users, which she finds, “shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company”.
She stresses that the move is not about herself, rather:
“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… but will not get paid for a quarter of a year’s worth of plays on his or her songs.”
The move seems to have worked, because Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue posted these reassuring messages on twitter just earlier today:
Apple will always make sure that artist are paid #iTunes #AppleMusic
— Eddy Cue (@cue) June 22, 2015
#AppleMusic will pay artist for streaming, even during customer’s free trial period
— Eddy Cue (@cue) June 22, 2015
We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple
— Eddy Cue (@cue) June 22, 2015
Swift’s actions mean that thousands of artists will now be compensated for their work and is the perfect example of when influential people use their power for the good of other people.
It’s not the first time either that the singer has pulled music from other music services. She pulled her music catalogue from Spotify in November over similar complaints of unfair compensation and that her, “Music is art, and art is important and rare. Important, rare things are valuable. Valuable things should be paid for.”
Swift’s decision is an important one, especially in regards to the Apple iTunes, which holds a virtual monopoly over all the world’s legal digital downloads, with an estimated share of around 80% to 85% of music downloads world-wide.
The company is hoping to translate its huge pre-existing user base into a thriving streaming service to rival that of Spotify or Pandora. It will charge around $10 a month for its service.