Taylor Swift announced on Twitter that thanks to successful negotiations with Apple, her recent hit album, 1989, will be available exclusively on Apple Music. It's the first time the artist has made this album available on a music streaming service and could possibly set into motion pushing her back catalog of albums to the service down the line.
Shortly after the artist spoke out against the terms of Apple Music's free trial, Apple responded. The company promptly flipped its plans and will now pay artists, as opposed to not paying them, for the duration of the free, three-month trial period, which customers will be able to take advantage of when the service launches next week. She seems pretty happy about this.
This is the musician's first appearance on a streaming platform since she removed her music from Spotify last year, calling it "a grand experiment" that didn't pan out in her favor. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek questioned the move, saying "...payouts for a top artist like Taylor Swift (before she pulled her catalog) are on track to exceed $6 million a year…" I guess $6 million wasn't enough for Ms. Swift.
Either way, Apple's turn in step concerning artist payouts during the free trial not only was enough to persuade Taylor, it also convinced several indie labels to sign on. This boosts the music offering to include popular artists such as Jamie XX, Radiohead and Adele. Hey, an argument on Twitter that ended on a positive note. Who would have thought?
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