Taylor Swift Explains Why ‘1989’ Won’t Be On Apple Music
Earlier this week, Taylor Swift‘s label Big Machine and Apple told BuzzFeed News that 1989 won’t be available for streaming on Apple Music. Today (June 21), Swift offers an explanation in an open letter, titled “Dear Apple, Love Taylor.”
“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,” Swift writes. “I’m not sure you know that Apple Music will not be paying writers, producers, or artists for those three months. I find it to be shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company.”
Indie labels had already caught on to that fact. “For the biggest [music] retailer in the country, iTunes has been a pretty good partner to indie labels. The biggest bummer is that [this] just throws that goodwill out the door,” a label source said to Rolling Stone. But Swift is the first mainstream artist to protest this three-month trial, and she says she does this not for herself, but the up-and-coming artist.
“This is about the new artist or band that has just released their first single and will not be paid for its success,” Swift says. “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. This is about the producer who works tirelessly to innovate and create, just like the innovators and creators at Apple are pioneering in their field…but will not get paid for a quarter of a year’s worth of plays on his or her songs.”
Read the rest of “Dear Apple, Love Taylor” at Taylor Swift’s Tumblr.
Do you agree with Taylor? Sound off in the comments below!
