Apple Music listens to Taylor Swift, will pay artists during free trials

(Image credit: Sascha Steinbach/Getty Images)

last updated 22 June 2015

It didn’t take long for Apple to change its tune when it came to paying artists during a user's free 90-day trial of Apple Music.

In an open letter, Taylor Swift wrote that she would not be putting her album 1989 up on Apple Music when it launches June 30 because the company did not plan on compensating artists for music played during free trials. "This is not about me," she wrote. "Thankfully I am on my fifth album and can support myself, my band, crew, and entire management team by playing live shows. This is about the new artist or band that has just released their first single and will not be paid for its success."

On Sunday night, Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of internet software and services, tweeted that Apple will in fact pay artists for streaming during a customer's free trial period. "When I woke up this morning and saw what Taylor had written, it really solidified that we needed a change," he told Billboard. "And so that's why we decided we will now pay artists during the trial period." Cue said that Apple had heard similar concerns from other artists, and it was "never our intent" not to compensate artists; the original plan was to negotiate a higher royalty rate. He also said he spoke with Swift, who was "thrilled and very thankful and excited to see how quick we responded."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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