Taylor Swift has agreed to stream her album 1989 on Apple Music after the company reversed its decision not to pay artists royalties for the first three trial months their music is available on the company’s new streaming service.
The pop star made the announcement on Twitter, writing: “After the events of this week, I’ve decided to put 1989 on Apple Music ... and happily so”. The artist and the company had traded tweets and blogposts over whether artists should be paid during the trial period.
After the events of this week, I've decided to put 1989 on Apple Music...and happily so.
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) June 25, 2015
On 21 June Swift wrote a tumblr post which criticised Apple’s “shocking” and “disappointing” decision not to pay artists during the trial period. Apple responded by tweeting back at Swift to announce they would scrap the plan and pay artists during and after the first three months.
Swift had argued that Apple’s policy was to the detriment of emerging artists: “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,” she wrote.
Announcing she would allow 1989 to be streamed, she added that the deal is not exclusive and wrote that this is “the first time it’s felt right in my gut to stream my album”. Swift had previously refused to allow 1989 to be streamed on services including Spotify, saying that she objected to her music being made available for free.
Released in October, the album sold 1.3m copies in its first week, the fastest-seller since 2002.
Apple Music is due to launch on 30 June, with Pharrell Williams’s next single in place as its first exclusive.
