I believe Swift meant well, and the outcome is a good one. Apple responded well too.
But, as I understand it, things were never so "shocking" as she believed from reading that one phrase. It was NEVER musicians giving up their livelihood in some evil-greedy-Apple way:
- The free-period terms were the SAME as with all the other streaming companies. (Just a longer timeframe: 3 months vs 1.) In other words, the musicians get no money for that particular temporary subsegment of trial music listening (NOT for "all their work"). But the streaming service (Apple in this case) ALSO gets no money for that subsegment. All partners, not just on the music side, are giving away their joint product for free. Not unreasonable to me.
- The additional 2 months' free period comes to 1/6 of a year, no effect after year one. It's a flash in the pan.
- The terms that Apple is now paying for that 60 days are apparently similar to what any company's free tier pays--which is to say, almost nothing. It NOT going to make or break a large artist or a small one. (Plus Apple's paying for the additional 30 days--the one month other services offer as free trials, "without paying musicians." Apple has done more than match the standard scenario, they have exceeded it.)
- Apple's service pays WAY better than any other in the long run: 7x as much, is the figure I have seen. This is because they do NOT have a free tier after the trial (not to mention, paying a slightly higher % even on the paid tier). And this near-worthless-to-musicians free tier that other companies offer forever via ads, Apple is cutting off after the trial. That is huge. THAT is going to make or break musicians. Apple is a savior to musicians in this scenario, not a robber baron, and anyone who thinks about the actual numbers knows it.
- People who say it would take ages for a musician to recover that lost 60 days of free-tier streaming revenue aren't thinking clearly. The lost amount (now regained) was vanishingly small, and the 7x boost to come is not.
- A longer free trial entices more customers. That's the purpose of any sale or giveaway or promo. It helps ALL partners in the venture--Apple and musicians/labels alike. NOT just Apple.
- Yes, ANY streaming service will reduce song purchases also... but that's happening anyway, with or without Apple. And the difference is, with Apple, people would actually be listening to more music--AND paying more money per year--than the average music buyer. Plus, music buying doesn't just vanish either (in fact, Apple Music is in part a discovery method that leads to purchases. In a "Pandora" way, but also via the DJs.)
- So, in short, Apple offered the same free-trial terms as anyone, but with a 60-day-longer trial period. Culminating in 7x the income to musicians/labels ongoing. I doubt Apple--or the music labels--cared very much either way about the terms of the free period. I bet Apple was like "THIS detail gets an open letter? Shrug."