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I agree with you problem is most of the people don't care about lossy quality...they just want the music for free.

Yes you're right people don't give a **** these days about music quality and this is part of the problem, most of them listening to music from cheap computer loudspeakers and EarPods.
 
The thing is, the 3 month free trial isn't in the least bit outrageous to anyone with even an elementary level of business acumen. Why do you think have the majors have all agreed to this and aren't complaining in the media? You think they're in the business of wanting to lose money? Of course not; unlike some people who are only able to think about the short term, they recognise that the 3 month free trial is a necessary investment for them to secure and maximise a future revenue flow, over an extended period of time. If Apple Music is done well, it virtually guarantees them a solid source of dependable income for as long as the service lasts. Independents could, and eventually will, of course benefit from this too.

I don't think it's really about that for some artists though. It seems to be an issue that runs as an undercurrent below this outrage over the 3 month free trial thing. What I see happening is that many artists are simply putting an economic value on their work that is completely out of line with the true monetary worth of recorded pop music in 2015. It's understandable given that an artist will pour so much of their time, energy, soul and creativity into creating music. Of course they're going to value it highly, because it has high value to them personally. But the reality is that because music is now easier than it has ever been to consume, create and distribute, it has lost a lot of economic value. These conditions have made things wonderful for people who listen to music because they love music (they have more music to listen to at a lower price than ever before), and it's wonderful for artists who create music because they want to share their creativity with the world (they have a larger, more immediately accessible audience than ever before). I concede that it's maybe not so wonderful for those looking to get in to music to make obscene amounts of money. But this actually seems like a step in the right direction for me.

Streaming is clearly the future of how music is going to be consumed and artists can resist the change all they want, but they're only going to hurt themselves in the long run. To quote one of Steve Jobs all-time favourites...

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'

Well said!
 
The response from this community, knowing that many of you are creatives yourselves, has surprised me. I can't believe many of you actually support Apple in this move. It is categorically wrong.

Irrespective of whether the artist is an indie artist (many of which earn nearer the average National wage than you'd like to imagine) or an already superstar worth millions - they deserve to paid in full for their work. Apple are choosing to offer the free trial, not the artists, so Apple should foot the cost, not the artists.

And for those who stupidly think artists should "just sign-up in September then" ...The free trial isn't simply June to September, it's 3 months from whenever your start, be that June this year, or October next year. The majority of income from an album sales/streams is made in the first few months after release - so a three month un-paid trial has the potential to turn a big earning album into a financial flop.
 
The big labels own the vast majority of the music and Apple has individually negotiated this deal (including the no payment portion for three months) with each big label which is participating (which I believe is going to be all the big labels). So for most content no one is being directly forced (though Apple is a very tough negotiator). In the end, this will probably be a good service for the industry. But for folks living paycheck to paycheck this is going to be a lean summer if Apple pays nothing for its streaming and Spotify, Pandora and others see a dramatic decrease in their customers.

This whole argument would be much more convincing if you could plug in some figures to the theory.

How much does a typical artist who is "living from paycheck to paycheque" typically earn from other streaming services?
 
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That's the problem they DO need streaming services now. They can't afford saying no to them.

Of course Apple has to do with the decline of physical sales, if you don't want to blame them directly let's say technology in general is the culprit in part, which is ok by me. we need to evolve.

Sorry, but I disagree.
Much of the Music industries issues is that they have constantly looked to drag their feet in regards to demand, distribution and model concerning modern technology.

While I can understand certain musicians may struggle, this notion that technology companies have a hand in it is daft. The same way that bad and semi unemployed actors should somehow receive compensation from cable companies.
 
I would actually have some respect for Ms. Taylor Swift had she said this in her letter; "Apple, I don't care about my financial needs and I'm not looking to seek any amount of payment, but at least pay the Indie Artists since they are not as fortunate as me or I will pull my music from Music.

Funny how it wasn't put that way. She's just using the Indie Artists as leverage. I'll bet she doesn't give a rat's behind about Indie artists trying to build themselves up. If she did she would've remained true to her own original style of music (Country) rather than selling out and going where the real money is, that pop crap. She gives the word "ARTIST" a whole new meaning. For her it means to sellout and go for the gold.
Not really artists are always evolving. Just because you do one genre doesn't mean you shouldn't crossover and do other genres. That is what keeps thing creative and interesting and innovative. artists like software companies have to be willing to innovate and go outside of themselves.
 
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The point that people are missing is that Apple won't make a cent out of the trial period too. It's like a joint effort with the studios to get more people on board and make more money later.

The bigger subscription base will be beneficial to both artists and Apple later on.

Exactly this.

No financial benefit to Apple or the artists during the trial.

No financial benefit to Apple after the trial that doesn't also involve financial benefit to the artists.
 
What has happened to this place? I guess all the appleinsider white supremacists got banned and are showing up here. The amount of snobbery and misogyny in this thread is what I'd expect from AI, not macrumors.
 
I have worked for free a lot in my life and I still do from time to time , as an activist, for just causes, for the unfurtunate refugees etc. when a ridiculously rich company as apple ask people to work for free, then they need to get back to earth. Maybe back in the days when apple was on the brink to bankruptcy this could have been just. Now ehh, someone in the marketing dept. might look for another job.....cause this will backfire. Its just plain stupidity to ask people to work for free. Apple is now a candidate for the "mr. Burns" title of 2015.
 
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Clearly this is a bone of contention. Apple should just not have a 3 month trial certainly not initially....maybe later down the road. Surely there has got to be some compromise.
 
No but you do get it free for 14 days. You can use it, talk on it, play on it, download apps and show it off. Then simply return it for a full refund. Did you forget about that? :)
Not quite 3 months though. Do they still have a restocking fee too or has that been dropped?
 
Not really artists are always evolving. Just because you do one genre doesn't mean you should crossover and do other genres. That is what keeps thing creative and interesting and innovative. artists like software companies have to be willing to innovate and go outside of themselves.

It's about independent (indie) labels, artists, not the 'indie' sound.
 
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As a musician, I agree with her 100%. I really, really dislike streaming services. Both of my albums make most of their money on iTunes. They made almost nothing via streaming. The payout is criminally low. Therefore, I not only don't - but can't - do streaming anymore. Not worth it.
 
I don't listen to her music, but I gotta say she looks like a department store mannequin!
 
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Actually it does. Taylor Swift pulled out of Spotify because she felt (most likely her record company) she was not getting either enough or any compensation for her music on Spotify's freemium tier.

No. It wasn't when the trial wasn't active.

Again, is Spotify paying artists for the trial period? Has there been any statement or insider information?
 
Sorry, but I disagree.
Much of the Music industries issues is that they have constantly looked to drag their feet in regards to demand, distribution and model concerning modern technology.

While I can understand certain musicians may struggle, this notion that technology companies have a hand in it is daft. The same way that bad and semi unemployed actors should somehow receive compensation from cable companies.

Apple's plan to wipe out disc drives is nearly complete
Apple wasn't the first company to exclude a disc drive from its machines, though Apple's move came at a time when many PC competitors were aiming to upgrade the disc drives on notebooks from DVD readers to drives that could read high-definition discs. For Apple, which was making an increasingly large amount of money selling movies and TV shows through iTunes, this never made much sense
http://www.cnet.com/news/apples-plan-to-wipe-out-disc-drives-is-nearly-complete/

They are not that free of guilty...
 
This... The Indies still may have made money from other sources. Like others have said, Zero of zero is still....'0'. It's not like Apple was paying them before and now took that money away. If I was a new band and wasn't making any money anyway, wouldn't this be an opportunity to eventually promote yourself and have a potential to gain recognition?
I don't know anything about music streaming services, but isn't the idea to take away customers from other streaming services? If a lesser known musician was making, say, £10 a day from a rivals service, and that drops off because people move to Apple's with its 3 month trial then that musician will be getting less that isn't being made up for due to said trial.

I know this may inflame some TS fans, but this artist is so over exposed. I personally don't care for her music or her overall attitude. Her ego may be larger than her bank account. She left Country because her audience there wasn't big enough to satisfy her quest for attention. Think Justin whats his name....

Phew, I'm glad you told us all your opinion of her.
 
I can understand where these people are coming from, but I do have to disagree with them.

It's not like you have to pay for a car before you get to test drive it and this is just the same idea. Letting people have a taste of the service before committing to subscribing to it.
 
I can understand where these people are coming from, but I do have to disagree with them.

It's not like you have to pay for a car before you get to test drive it and this is just the same idea. Letting people have a taste of the service before committing to subscribing to it.

Do you test drive a car for 3 months? Where can I sign up if so?

I'm on Apple's side on this, but this analogy is terrible.
 
I can understand where these people are coming from, but I do have to disagree with them.

It's not like you have to pay for a car before you get to test drive it and this is just the same idea. Letting people have a taste of the service before committing to subscribing to it.
This is quite a bit different from test driving a car. People know what Apple is and know what streaming is. This isn't some new market we are talking about here. This is an established market and there are low switching costs between Spotify and Apple. Artists giving away songs for free should be their doing not Apple's. You didn't see Apple starting off iTunes with a freemium try it for 3 months free model. No people had to pay immediately.
 
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