Swift takes bite out of Apple
Taylor Swift has Apple changing its tune.
Hours after the pop superstar criticized the giant tech company in an open letter posted online, Apple announced Sunday that it will pay royalties to artists and record labels for music played during a free three-month trial of its new streaming music service.
“When I woke up this morning and I saw Taylor’s note that she had written, it really solidified that we needed to make a change,” Apple senior vice-president Eddy Cue said.
Apple had already agreed to share revenue from paid subscriptions to the new Apple Music service, which will cost about $10 a month. But Swift said she would withhold her latest album, 1989, from the service because Apple wasn’t planning to pay artists and labels directly for the use of their music during the free introductory period.
“We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation,” Swift wrote in an open letter posted Sunday on her Tumblr page, under the heading “To Apple, Love Taylor.”
Apple has maintained it negotiated revenue sharing at rates that are slightly higher than the industry standard to compensate for the three months it plans to offer its streaming service without charge.
“We had factored that in,” Cue said Sunday. But he said, “We had been hearing from artists that this was going to be rough on them, so we are making this change.”
Cue declined to say how much Apple will pay in royalties for streaming during the free trial period. He said Apple will share 71.5 per cent of its revenue from paid subscriptions within the United States and 73 per cent from subscriptions outside the country, while other streaming services generally share about 70 per cent.
Some artists and labels had worried they would miss out on opportunities to get a financial return from new music that is released during the three-month trial. Swift said she spoke out on their behalf.
Swift posted a reaction on Twitter late Sunday, saying “I am elated and relieved. Thank you for your words of support today. They listened to us.”