Is Taylor Swift the most powerful female pop star in the music industry right now? The 25-year-old singer just went head-to-head with Apple, one of the most well known and powerful companies in the world, and actually won her argument.
As we recently reported, Taylor Swift revealed that she would not be placing her new album, 1989, on Apple’s brand new streaming service, Apple Music, which is set to launch later in June, simply due to the fact that Apple had decided not to pay their artists for the first three months.
Taylor Swift has always spoken out against streaming services, but when Apple decided to launch their own, the world waited to see if Swift would attempt to go up against Apple. The “Shake it Off” singer surely did.
In a lengthy letter to Apple, Taylor Swift expressed her concerns about the streaming service and said, “Three months is a long time to go unpaid, and it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing. I say this with love, reverence, and admiration for everything else Apple has done…But I say to Apple with all due respect, it’s not too late to change this policy and change the minds of those in the music industry who will be deeply and gravely affected by this. We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation.”
Taylor Swift’s cries were heard and only hours after her letter went viral on the internet, Apple’s senior vice president of internet services and software, Eddy Cue, released a statement on Twitter that read, “We hear you Taylor Swift and indie artists. Love Apple,” revealing that artists will be paid, even during the 90-day free trial period offered to new users.
Now, Taylor Swift has announced on June 25 that she will, in fact, include her new album on Apple Music. She says, “After the events of this week, I’ve decided to put 1989 on Apple Music…and happily so.”
Wow, so Taylor Swift just changed the policy of one of the most powerful corporations in the world by just writing a letter and posting it on Tumblr. What do you make of all of this? Is Taylor Swift the most powerful pop artist in the music industry, or was she just making a big deal out of nothing? Let us know in the comments below.
Image credit to FameFlynet
