Taylor Swift is “elated and relieved” that Apple has decided to pay artists for streaming their songs.
Yesterday the 25-year-old singer penned an open letter to the music giant in which she slammed its decision not to pay musicians for music featured during a three-month free trial of its Apple Music offering. She called this decision “shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company”, adding she would not to making her most recent record 1989 available on the platform for this reason.
The Tumblr post went viral, and it seems even industry executives picked it up as senior vice president of internet services and software Eddy Cue announced a change in policy had been made early this morning.
“Apple will always make sure that artist are paid #iTunes #AppleMusic,” he wrote.
“#AppleMusic will pay artist for streaming, even during customer’s free trial period. We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple (sic).”
Taylor was thrilled by the confirmation and immediately took to her own page on the social media site to express her joy.
“I am elated and relieved. Thank you for your words of support today. They listened to us,” she wrote.
Eddy has also spoken out about the furore, admitting it was Taylor’s blog post and the way it resonated around the world which was the impetus for the decision. After seeing what the issue meant to people, Apple realised a change had to be put in place.
“When I woke up this morning and saw what Taylor had written, it really solidified that we needed to make a change. And so that’s why we decided we will now pay artists during the trial period,” he told Billboard.
To prove how seriously he was taking things, Eddy even rang Taylor himself to let her know change was afoot. He wanted her to hear the news from him due to their “long relationship” and explained she was overjoyed to find out what was being planned.
In her Tumblr post, Taylor explained she was fighting more for up-and-coming artists than herself. She felt it was unfair that people should create something and not be paid for it, adding that as artists don’t expect free iPhones, Apple shouldn’t want music without paying for it.
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