mar ⸆⸉

In an open letter on June 21, 2015, Taylor Swift said Apple Music would not get her album 1989 because of its three-month free trial policy. A few hours later, Apple agreed to pay all artists during the trial. In the clip below, she explains why she wrote it. "For anyone who wants to create music, for any little kid who's taking piano lessons right now, I want them to have an industry to go into." She had done this before. In November 2014, she pulled her catalog from Spotify, which refused to keep her music behind its paid tier. Apple Music was set to launch on June 30, 2015, with three free months. For that time, artists, songwriters and producers would be paid nothing. Apple's answer was a bigger cut after the trial, about 72% of revenue against roughly 70% elsewhere in the industry. Her letter ended: "We don't ask you for free iPhones. Please don't ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation." After posting it, she later recalled, she was struck by an overwhelming fear: "Am I gonna wake up tomorrow and all my music is off of iTunes?" That Sunday evening, Apple's Eddy Cue posted that Apple would pay artists during the trial, at a lower rate per stream, and called her. "Fast forward a couple hours and everything was different," she said. On June 25, she announced 1989 would be on Apple Music. At launch, it was the only streaming service with the album. Later she joked: "I didn't have a personal relationship with Apple until that point. I'm sure there are better ways to introduce yourself." The introduction turned into a partnership. In December 2015, her 1989 tour film came out exclusively on Apple Music, and in 2016 she starred in its ads. So did Swift win this fight for every artist, or did Apple just not want to lose her?