Taylor Swift to Apple: Pay Artists During Apple Music Trial

UPDATE: Swift's post worked. Late on Sunday, Apple said it will indeed pay artists and creators for music streamed during the three-month trial. For more, see Taylor Swift Tells Us All to Speak Up.

Original Story:
It's no secret that Taylor Swift isn't a big fan of the streaming model. That's not to say she opposes music streaming in all formats; just not the kind where listeners get to jam to her music for absolutely nothing, whether that's ad-supported streaming or a three-month trial of Apple Music.

However, if you thought Swift was just going to silently make her latest album unavailable on Apple Music, you would be wrong. She's actually penned a fairly scathing letter about why you won't be jamming to 1989 on Apple Music any time soon, and it's hard to disagree with some of her arguments. Even though Swift has an estimated net worth just north of $200 million or so, she's not drawing a line in the sand for her own benefit.

"I'm sure you are aware that Apple Music will be offering a free 3 month trial to anyone who signs up for the service. 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," Swift wrote on Tumblr.

"This is not about me. Thankfully I am on my fifth album and can support myself, my band, crew, and entire management team by playing live shows," she continued. "This is about the new artist or band that has just released their first single and will not be paid for its success. This is about the young songwriter who just got his or her first cut and thought that the royalties from that would get them out of debt. This is about the producer who works tirelessly to innovate and create, just like the innovators and creators at Apple are pioneering in their field…but will not get paid for a quarter of a year's worth of plays on his or her songs."

And Swift is completely correct. Apple isn't paying artists for any streaming that happens during this three-month trial. Instead, as Apple's Robert Kondrk told Recode earlier this month, music artists will receive higher payments than average for songs that are streamed by someone paying for Apple's service.

To break down the numbers a bit more, Kondrk noted that Apple plans to pay 71.5 percent of the money it makes from Apple Music to the rightsholders. From there, it's an exceedingly complex calculation to figure out just how much the actual artists make, based on their deals with the labels, and what gets paid to all the various rightsholders. Still, that means that Apple is handing out more than $7 for each U.S. subscription. For international subscriptions, the payout percent should hover around 73 percent.

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As for Swift, she's not angry at Apple or its to-be-launched streaming service. Far from it, in fact.

"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. I hope that soon I can join them in the progression towards a streaming model that seems fair to those who create this music. I think this could be the platform that gets it right," she wrote.

"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."