Taylor Swift criticizes Apple’s new streaming music service
Taylor Swift has some “Bad Blood” with Apple’s new music streaming service.
In an open letter on her blog titled “To Apple, Love Taylor,” the singer-songwriter called out the tech giant Sunday for not paying writers, producers or artists during a free three-month trial for Apple Music.
“I find it to be shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company,” she wrote. “Three months is a long time to go unpaid, and it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing.”
Apple announced the streaming service would launch on June 30 in 100 countries for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices and will be available for Windows and Android products in the fall. The service will give users a three-month free trial, but after that the service will cost $9.99 a month for access to the 30 million songs in its catalog.
Apple declined to comment on Swift’s letter.
This is not the first time Swift has been vocal about online streaming services. In October, shortly after her album “1989” was released, Swift and her Nashville-based label Big Machine Records withdrew all her music from Spotify, Apple’s main rival in streaming.
In an interview with Time, Swift said she “didn’t like the way it [Spotify] felt,” and that she believes her work has greater value than how it’s offered in the Spotify model.
As for Apple Music, Swift said in her blog post: “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.”
Times staff writer Ryan Faughnder contributed to this report.
For more news on the entertainment industry, follow me @saba_h
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