Taylor Swift Convinces Apple to Pay Independent Artists For Streaming Service

Updated:

June 22, 2015 10:49 am

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The players gonna play, play, play, but after Taylor Swift’s public letter to Apple, they’ll be doing it differently.

Yesterday, two weeks after Apple released its new paid streaming service, Swift posted on Tumblr, explaining why she’s withholding her most recent album, 1989, from the platform.

“I’m sure you are aware that Apple Music will be offering a free 3 month trial to anyone who signs up for the service. I’m not sure you know that Apple Music will not be paying writers, producers, or artists for those three months,” Swift said.

She went on, explaining who she wrote the letter for.

“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.”

Fortunately for those artists, writers and producers, Apple listened.

“#AppleMusic will pay artist for streaming, even during customer’s free trial period,” tweeted Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services.

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

Read Swift’s full letter here.