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Apple Reverses Course, Will Pay Artists During Apple Music Free Trial

HenryDJP said:
Oh so now they were cheating the artist? Oh really? Then tell me sir how is it that the labels agreed to Apple's terms? That's not cheating artists. I certainly hope that you don't make any mistakes in your life and correct them and hope that people will forgive and move on. Because according to you, you deserve no amount of praise for correcting a mistake.
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I said I was "glad they changed their minds." But I don't think one needs tons of praise for doing the right thing.

Still, this wasn't about the big record labels. It was about small artists who would have their music distributed for free when they're struggling to make a name for themselves among trendy artists with big billing. These smaller artists have no bargaining power and would have had to submit to Apple's terms or not have their music distributed.
 
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Rogifan said:
So basically Apple got #owned by Taylor Swift and some indie bands. Did Cue really think no one would object to this and it wouldn't become a PR issue. The fact Apple reversed course so quickly means it wasn't thought through very well rom the beginning.
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"Some indie bands"... it's like you're intentionally trying to downplay anyone that isn't Taylor Swift doing this.
 
Bitch move Apple, bitch move.

Since the artists don't want to invest with Apple as well, I hope Apple changes the contract to a lower percentage point.
 
GizmoDVD said:
Pathetic.

I'll still torrent what I want and not be restricted to when and where I an listen.
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You know what's the definition of pathetic? Not paying for what you listen to.

Get out. You don't belong in this discussion about making sure artists and content creators get paid for their work.

Thank you Taylor and Apple. Today is a huge day and changes everything for the future of music.
 
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iansilv said:
Wow! Taylor swift just intimidated a multi-billion dollar company in to doing something!
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Nah Apple prob just doesn't want an annoying song about their her break up with iTunes.

On another note, this and Spotify changing their color theme to a horrible green tone might get me to swap over to Apple Music.
 
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HenryDJP said:
It's still a possibility. Not sure why you would have a low-grade thought about Apple over it? It's all in the name of competition against Spotify.
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Design a better product that people will want to leave Spotify for. Don't pull stupid stunts. Though based on the recode story it doesn't appear to have been a stunt. More like Cue being clueless and getting #owned by Taylor Swift.
 
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.. actually, maybe she was just pissed that she did't get the $100 million deal to "give away" her latest album - that went to U2 last September.

But, U2 was just used to salivate the ignorant masses when they heard the "free" word. Most don't know they were paid, because no one listens after hearing "free". U2 was played, and paid... must be nice.. Time to rename them "U TOOL".

Now everyone expects free.
 
Rogifan said:
Design a better product that people will want to leave Spotify for. Don't pull stupid stunts. Though based on the recode story it doesn't appear to have been a stunt. More like Cue being clueless and getting #owned by Taylor Swift.
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...

Yeah, now you don't even bother to mention anyone else. You must really like Taylor Swift.
 
Michael Goff said:
And they won't care. As much as some people here say they care about Indie Artists, they only came to this thread because Taylor Swift. She has some really strongly opinionated fans.
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I've noticed that actually. She's "meh" to me, but not controversial. I always wondered why she had such opinionated fans...but we're on an Apple-centric site, aren't we considered "opinionated Apple fanboys" :p

I'd say about 60% of my library is from smaller (but not completely unknown) artists, but for some reason, "indie" is associated with "hipster" and garners glances so I just use the word "small" now.
 
shinji said:
Now Apple Music will have Taylor Swift and Spotify won't.

Guess they need every edge they can get.
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While I'm certainly no fan of Taylor Swift I'm smart enough to realize she's nearly the top selling artist in music today - duh - so if was a streaming company then hell ya I'd want her on my service ☺️
 
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Rogifan said:
If this was all a big PR stunt it sure doesn't make me think better of Apple. Apple should be involved stunts like this (assuming it was a stunt).
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I don't think it was a pre-planned PR stunt. There had been a lot of discussion about the issues involved between high profile Apple writers yesterday. Gruber published some blog entries about it, Rene Richie did the same on iMore. There were several heated threads on Twitter on Sunday. Taylor Swift nodded in agreement with some of these posts to further highlight the dissenting opinions.

Cue and some other execs probably saw all this snowballing, did some napkin calculations on what they were saving by zero rating royalty payments to artists, and quickly determined this was not worth taking the pain over. Tim Cook agreed (after having the numbers further scrutinised) and green lighted Cue putting out the message tonite - we are paying artists.

Right now they are probably cursing missing this detail on royalties during trial when putting together the deals. But it's not surprising the bulk of the attention was on subscriptions, foregoing revenue for 90 days. Because that's were the bulk of the money is earned and paid out.
 
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Traverse said:
I've noticed that actually. She's "meh" to me, but not controversial. I always wondered why she had such opinionated fans...but we're on an Apple-centric site, aren't we considered "opinionated Apple fanboys" :p

I'd say about 60% of my library is from smaller (but not completely unknown) artists, but for some reason, "indie" is associated with "hipster" and garners glances so I just use the word "small" now.
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She's an alright singer and an alright musician, but her image is top notch. Also, I put the words I did on the basis of trying to not insult anyone. You might want to change the words you used in your quote, they're not allowed here apparently. ;)
 
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