Taylor Swift is pulling out her latest album from streaming in Apple Music, Apple’s newest streaming service, which will debut on June 30 with a three-month trial. The 1989 artist took her sentiments to Tumblr in an open letter explaining why.
“I feel this deserves an explanation because Apple has been and will continue to be one of my best partners in selling music and creating ways for me to connect with my fans,” she begins.
Of course, that’s before she serves up signature TayTay realness.
“[To my followers,] 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,” she writes.
“This is not about me… This is about the new artist or band that has just released their first single and will not be paid for its success.”
Taylor moves on to serving the biggest burn.
“These are not the complaints of a spoiled, petulant child. These are the echoed sentiments of every artist, writer and producer in my social circles who are afraid to speak up publicly because we admire and respect Apple so much. We simply do not respect this particular call.” Spot-on.
It turns out that apart from Taylor, British record labels such as those of Adele’s have backed out. This is also not the first time Taylor acted against music streaming services. Late last year, Swifties had to get their Taylor fix elsewhere that’s not Spotify, following their main girl’s belief that “valuable art should [always] be paid for.” Until Apple Music and other similar services give artists the royalties they deserve, we’ll be missing a few albums rightfully so.
[Refinery29] Photo courtesy of Shine-On Media