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Apple Says “We Hear You Taylor Swift”, Will Pay Musicians During Free Trial

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Re: Apple Says “We Hear You Taylor Swift”, Will Pay Musicians During Free Trial

#101

Post by exelius »

001sky wrote: post #83
exelius wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing Apple just ran the math and decided "A $300 billion company should not damage its brand in a PR fight with a pop singer over a rounding error." Seriously, the amount of money we're talking here is probably less than $10 million a year. Apple gets to look like the good guy, the difference is immaterial to most artists, and Taylor Swift gets to feel important. What upsets me about the whole thing is that T…

"Typically you have to complete a 3-album deal where the studio owns the recording rights" Taylor swift has made tons of product and has rights apparently because she does more work on her music than most artists. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift#2004.E2.80.9308:_...

She didn't make any of these decisions on her own as a 14 year old. She had two parents with a lot of business savvy and the money to bankroll her career. That gives you the ability to push back against the record company. Ordinarily, if you say "no" to a record company's demands, they drop you and your career is over. Taylor just went out and bought a recording company after RCA wouldn't give her the creative control she wanted (aka "doing more work on her music than most artists") -- most artists don't have that option.

Re: Apple Says “We Hear You Taylor Swift”, Will Pay Musicians During Free Trial

#102

Post by KeytarHero »

pinaceae wrote: post #42

this was a BRILLIANT pr orchestration. blogs, articles, etc all over the globe were written about apple music, for free. would have been far more expensive to buy all that airtime than this little scandal. so taylor swift gets more publicity, apple music is now an established brand name, everyone and their dog knows about their pricing model - holy shit. hats off to the apple team, playing the outrage-piano like no o…

I doubt it. Planning to piss off the musicians you depend on and then backtrack is a risky move; it has the potential to erode public trust somewhat.

Re: Apple Says “We Hear You Taylor Swift”, Will Pay Musicians During Free Trial

#103

Post by JonFish85 »

pinaceae wrote: post #42

this was a BRILLIANT pr orchestration. blogs, articles, etc all over the globe were written about apple music, for free. would have been far more expensive to buy all that airtime than this little scandal. so taylor swift gets more publicity, apple music is now an established brand name, everyone and their dog knows about their pricing model - holy shit. hats off to the apple team, playing the outrage-piano like no o…

While I don't know how orchestrated this might have been, it's interesting that Apple seemed to cave to Taylor Swift's letter immediately, whereas Spotify basically told her that she's welcome back whenever she changes her mind. Apple had to know that Taylor Swift would be pretty on top of this, since she had already made her feelings known about the lack of compensation for streaming music (when she pulled her songs from Spotify).

Re: Apple Says “We Hear You Taylor Swift”, Will Pay Musicians During Free Trial

#104

Post by sliverstorm »

kincardine wrote: post #15
SchizoDuckie wrote: post #12

Musicians can complain when they want a bigger cut and it's fixed the next day. App developers and content producers get emailed 'we are taking more out of your cut' or 'if you don't want us to show ads near your content, reply to this email with "opt out"'

It's not that musicians can complain when they want a bigger cut and get it fixed the next day, it's that unicorn musicians can - like Taylor Swift.

Yup, that's the key. She is literally a rock star. (well, pop/country)

App developers don't have a millionth of the star power.

Re: Apple Says “We Hear You Taylor Swift”, Will Pay Musicians During Free Trial

#105

Post by Alupis »

rst wrote: post #95
Alupis wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Seriously, the amount of money we're talking here is probably less than $10 million a year. Probably true, however remember Swift recently had the bout with Spotify, leading to the Spotify CEO revealing she was pulling in nearly $6 million a year from them.

FWIW, those figures are in dispute. Swift and her management publicly stated that she was getting a lot less from Spotify -- IIRC, under $1 million. http://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-taylor-swift-earned-...

If I recall, her dispute was in dispute by Spotify CEO.

He asserted her final cut was probably what she was stating, but Spotify's checks to her label were in original $6 million range payouts, and that she should take the issue up with her management if they are taking that much out of her cut.

Re: Apple Says “We Hear You Taylor Swift”, Will Pay Musicians During Free Trial

#106

Post by vbezhenar »

It's obvious that it was planned from the beginning. It's not possible to do such decisions "on the fly" for Apple monster. There are billions of dollars involved in such a decision. Well played, Apple, I must admit.

What I wonder is how do they prevent me from regging new account every 3 monthes? Why would I pay them a single cent if I can spend few minutes once a 3 months and listen to their library for free?

Re: Apple Says “We Hear You Taylor Swift”, Will Pay Musicians During Free Trial

#107

Post by jusben1369 »

kincardine wrote: post #59
doppp wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. It's highly unlikely that some SVP would respond so swiftly (no pun intended) to a pop star.

I think it's more unlikely that a change in business model would happen so quickly. Given public presence and the way they are steering Apple Music, the personal response - regardless of planning - is less surprising.

I think both of you might be over-estimating what's required to say "Ok actually we're going to meter free trials too just like paid accounts and pay out royalties equally irrespective of account type" Technology wouldn't be difficult and cash isn't an issue.

Re: Apple Says “We Hear You Taylor Swift”, Will Pay Musicians During Free Trial

#108

Post by jusben1369 »

pinaceae wrote: post #42

this was a BRILLIANT pr orchestration. blogs, articles, etc all over the globe were written about apple music, for free. would have been far more expensive to buy all that airtime than this little scandal. so taylor swift gets more publicity, apple music is now an established brand name, everyone and their dog knows about their pricing model - holy shit. hats off to the apple team, playing the outrage-piano like no o…

The only brilliance in the PR here is the speed with which Apple moved to avoid looking like the richest company in the world screwing over struggling artists globally. Never going to win that one. I suspect Taylor had back channelled her displeasure and only went public when Apple took too long/didn't agree. So they had time to crunch the numbers and think it through and moved quickly once it hit the public arena.

Re: Apple Says “We Hear You Taylor Swift”, Will Pay Musicians During Free Trial

#109

Post by jobu »

vinceguidry wrote: post #85
zyb09 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those sneaky bastards, no way I believe this whole thing wasn't prearranged with Taylor Swift. Apple has been subject to public outcries over their greedy business models lots of times, but never did they give in so soon and easily. Either T.Swift is some kind of head honcho of the music industry, and Apple genuinely has to respect her statement, or this whole thing was prearranged for PR.

I think you're severely underestimating Taylor Swift's clout in the music industry. She's the biggest artist since Katy Perry, and Katy Perry was the biggest artist since Michael Jackson.

The pendulum swings pretty fast these days, but yeah, she's probably the single most influential person in popular culture right now. (I'm not even a fan of her music, but I heard about her blog post from my kids before I saw it on HN.)

It also helps that she wrote a pretty compelling argument that Apple's free trial shouldn't come at the expense of artists.

Re: Apple Says “We Hear You Taylor Swift”, Will Pay Musicians During Free Trial

#110

Post by insertion »

pinaceae wrote: post #42

this was a BRILLIANT pr orchestration. blogs, articles, etc all over the globe were written about apple music, for free. would have been far more expensive to buy all that airtime than this little scandal. so taylor swift gets more publicity, apple music is now an established brand name, everyone and their dog knows about their pricing model - holy shit. hats off to the apple team, playing the outrage-piano like no o…

I find it highly unlikely this was a coordinated PR stunt. If revealed, this would damage the reputation of both parties, particularly Taylor. On a risk-adjusted basis, it’s not worth it for such established players to do this sort of thing. There’s also the secondary issue of how Apple would initially raise this topic. What are the chances she would have wanted to play along? Maybe she has a close friend at Apple who’d feel safe suggesting this, but it seems unlikely.

It’s very hard to exactly predict how stories will develop. What if lots of other artists came out and publicly supported Taylor’s stance? Then, even if Taylor agreed to Apple’s next deal, the other artists might not. In which case, Apple finds itself in a pickle and nobody would be suggesting that this was coordinated – even if it was.

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