Background:
Apparently the new Apple streaming service would have a 3-month free trial, and their initial plan was to not pay artists & songwriters for that period. Taylor said “No Way” and now it looks like they have reversed that plan. Such is the power of Taylor, apparently ;).
So, I think that was the right decision - it wasn’t just Swift who was against this. My favourite label collective, Beggars, also didn’t go for it.
My question: does anyone think Apple were justified in their payment model?
It’s not a question of ‘justified’ - Apple pushed its corporate luck, people said ‘no way’, the corporation says ‘oh well, it was worth a punt’. It’s business.
It seems significant to me that Apple backed down in the way people wanted; I would’ve entertained the possibility that they’d react by just shortening the trial period.
TS has got some balls on her. I remember before she hit it big, a record company offered her big cash to do “X” (I can’t remember what “X” was but “X” was a fairly standard procedure for upcoming artist.)
TS, with her best poker face basically said: “Fuck you, it my way or the highway” and holy shit if big name record company didn’t fold like a lawn chair and comply! Remember, she did this BEFORE she had millions of dollars.
I’ve never been a fan of her music, but I have nothing but respect and admiration for this woman.
“Justified” doesn’t mean just moral justification - it also means “Was it good business sense in the first place to alienate artists and labels - especially when you’re pushing your streaming model as more artist-friendly than Spotify’s?”
Initially, they pushed back, though, they weren’t just floating the idea, they were being quite firm in negotiations. Until their stock dropped on Beggars’ letter and Swift pulled her album.
Taylor Swift seems like a pretty chill un-evil person. Unless you posit that any celebrity and/or person who runs a brand that makes money (Taylor’s brand being herself and her music) is evil for looking out for themselves.
Do you think its Taylor making the actual decision (as opposed to signing in the dotted line) or her handlers? Music industry establishment… its undoubtedly them.
Do you have a particular reason to deny her agency and posit nebulous “handlers”?
In this case, it’s Apple who is the establishment. Swift is on an independent label (one that was basically founded with her, is part-owned by her family, and does not seem to be beholden to the industry - witness the Spotify pullout before this)
There’s nothing wrong with a free trial, but it should have been coming from Apple’s pockets, not the artists. Like if a hotel gives out free rooms for a promotion, the cost doesn’t come from the clerks and maids salaries.
The problem is that none of the streaming music services actually make any money. Spotify has lost hundreds of millions even with over 10 million paying customers. The main reason seems to be the 70% cut they have to pay in royalties + massive upfront payments the record companies demand for their music. It is certainly their right, but they are strangling the only viable alternative to their music simply being taken for free. Apple is Apple so they can probably stand to lose millions until they become the last service standing, but being the last one on a dead industry isn’t going to help them much when the alternative is still free music.
Exactly. Realistically, a huge fraction of the free trials are going to be cancelled before the user pays anything. Swift, and everybody else, would be writing off possibly the majority of potential sales.
And as with Disney, I am always amused at the people who are shocked shocked I tell you when it behaves like a globe-straddling megacorp… and get my eyerolling exercise at those who defend shitty actions because, you know, it’s Aaaaapulllll.
But then, Apple has been playing the “we’re a little warm fuzzy company nothing like those cannibalistic people-hating corporations” card since about 1978… and it was absurd then.
I’ll excuse this “no pay for play” policy that serves only their needs when they start loaning out OS updates and software for free 90-day trials.