4 ms·

Except in her own words: "This is not about me." She is of course, lying. So if she plays hardball with her own album's access, she will be exposed as the liar

by bedhead 11y ago

Except in her own words: "This is not about me." She is of course, lying. So if she plays hardball with her own album's access, she will be exposed as the liar she is. Streaming revenues matter to only but the top .1% of musicians, so Taylor Swift leading the charge on this was a joke to begin with. It was always about her, and Kanye West, and Drake, and the rest of music's elite. It's like Bill Gates being the public face of abolishing the estate tax. Do you think it's a coincidence that TIDAL, the streaming service that was supposed to revolutionize the business, only had the world's wealthiest artists on stage during its unveiling? This is about a handful of artists grabbing a little more money, period.

robgibbons 11y ago
And yet it's not OK to question Apple for doing the same? Every decision they make is about gaining more power and money. More influence. More market. All they care about is money, and they don't give two shits about the little guys. Personally, I don't care about T. Swift, but I'm glad she used her fame to combat Apple's power grab.
- bedhead 11y ago
  Well, what I've learned by looking at comments and all my downvotes (despite making perfect sense) is that people want Apple to pay musicians more, just 'cuz. Apple makes a lot of money and many artists don't, so, uhhh, like, pay them more please. Oh well.
JohnTHaller 11y ago
Funny, all my indie artist friends hated Apple's new policy. And Apple still won't say what the payment will be during the free trial period. It'll be less than the typical ~1/2 cent per play that's the current industry norm. Likely a lot less.
- bedhead 11y ago
  Musicians will hate ANY streaming deal. In fact, nearly everyone (it seems) is on record hating all these services. Yet the overwhelming majority of them don't opt out. Why is that?? Hmmmm...maybe streaming isn't such a bad deal somehow. Possible? I keep waiting for the mass defections as proof. People vote with their feet, artists included, and all I see is a lot of talk and zero action. It's basically just people whining for more money.
  - JohnTHaller 11y ago
    Well, Apple was threatening indie artists with expulsion from iTunes if they didn't agree to Apple Music's terms. So, there's that. As for Spotify et al, label artists can't opt out. Their contracts won't let them. The reason Taylor Swift's current album isn't on any streaming services is because she makes a ton more selling it and streaming would cannibalize sales. And her current album (and only her current album) she did without a major label... so she's one of the few that gets to make that call. Streaming services want current music to get and keep subscribers. Musicians want their latest music to be sales and their back catalog streaming (ala Netflix, etc) to maximize income.

by bedhead 11y ago

robgibbons 11y ago

And yet it's not OK to question Apple for doing the same? Every decision they make is about gaining more power and money. More influence. More market. All they care about is money, and they don't give two shits about the little guys. Personally, I don't care about T. Swift, but I'm glad she used her fame to combat Apple's power grab.

bedhead 11y ago
Well, what I've learned by looking at comments and all my downvotes (despite making perfect sense) is that people want Apple to pay musicians more, just 'cuz. Apple makes a lot of money and many artists don't, so, uhhh, like, pay them more please. Oh well.

JohnTHaller 11y ago

Funny, all my indie artist friends hated Apple's new policy. And Apple still won't say what the payment will be during the free trial period. It'll be less than the typical ~1/2 cent per play that's the current industry norm. Likely a lot less.

bedhead 11y ago
Musicians will hate ANY streaming deal. In fact, nearly everyone (it seems) is on record hating all these services. Yet the overwhelming majority of them don't opt out. Why is that?? Hmmmm...maybe streaming isn't such a bad deal somehow. Possible? I keep waiting for the mass defections as proof. People vote with their feet, artists included, and all I see is a lot of talk and zero action. It's basically just people whining for more money.
- JohnTHaller 11y ago
  Well, Apple was threatening indie artists with expulsion from iTunes if they didn't agree to Apple Music's terms. So, there's that. As for Spotify et al, label artists can't opt out. Their contracts won't let them. The reason Taylor Swift's current album isn't on any streaming services is because she makes a ton more selling it and streaming would cannibalize sales. And her current album (and only her current album) she did without a major label... so she's one of the few that gets to make that call. Streaming services want current music to get and keep subscribers. Musicians want their latest music to be sales and their back catalog streaming (ala Netflix, etc) to maximize income.