Taylor Swift has been pretty intent upon not sharing her music with streaming services like Spotify in the past, and now she’s revealed why she’s decided to keep her albums off Apple’s upcoming streaming app, aptly titled Apple Music, as well. In a lengthy open letter, Taylor explained that it’s not really about her own greed but rather about standing up for other artists on principle.
Instead of pasting the text of the letter here, I’ll just embed the Tumblr post where Taylor wrote it.
I think it’s pretty hilarious that she’s taken such a strong stance against this and yet has her music on TIDAL. I don’t think they’re paying a much better rate to artists, to be honest (though feel free to correct me if I’m wrong). Just seems like Jay-Z was too cool to say not to, but who knows.
Did you read her complaint? Her point was the LENGTH OF TIME to get paid. Both she (who doesn’t need to worry about where her next meal is coming from) and others (who do). Not going with Tidal is a buisness decision – maybe she would at some futue date. But Apple is the great Satan, and why let them just gobble up more money by holding it longer? How do they “gobble up money? Interest earned on holding the money (I’ll spell it out for your here: ((money/time) * time) is ALSO money. And the longer they hold it the more they make, and the less the ARTIST can make by investing that self-same money.
Did you read her complaint? Her point was the LENGTH OF TIME to get paid, both her own tracks (and of course she doesn’t need to worry about where her next meal is coming from) and those of other artists (who do). Not going with Tidal is a business decision – maybe she would at some future date. But Apple is the great Satan, and why let them just gobble up more money by holding it longer? How do they “gobble up” money? Well, Interest earned on holding the money (((money/time) * time) is ALSO money. And the longer they hold payments, the more they make, and the less the ARTIST can make by investing that self-same money. Apple has enough capital (more than several small countries combined) or more specifically CASH, to pay immediately without suffering a cash flow problem.
Hence the reason I don’t own any Apple products whatsoever. You guys rail and weep and moan about capitalists corporate Republicans and all that crapola, but you buy into it as I suspect you all use Apple Ipads, Iphones, and desktops. I merely vote with my pocketbook. It’s the best way to influence things.
Late tonight (Sunday) Apple caved. Specifically, artists will get royalties from a song downloaded by someone even during that customer’s 90 day free period. Apple can afford it, and giving in so quickly is probably good PR for them rather than just stubbornly holding out. And, to Ms. Swift’s credit, she stood her ground and stated her case ever so politely.
Honestly, though, Apple absolutely should be paying for any promos they are offering, not the artists. They make little enough as it is
Agreed.
As far as I know, Tidal is the highest payer to artists, along with Google Play. Both services have her music. I am not against paying a fair price for streaming, I already do it with Spotify so I would be willing to switch to platforms which have a fairer system.