“We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation,” wrote Taylor Swift in an open love letter to Apple.
In it, she gave the same reasoning that caused her earlier departure from Spotify, the subscription streaming music service Apple is cloning. The singer decided to keep her 1989 album off of Apple Music after discovering users could hear her songs and others,’ for free during the three-month trial period, but that those who created the songs wouldn’t be paid during that time.
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Ms. Swift wrote, “I find it to be shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company.”
Insisting that her firm missive was “not about me” or “the complaints of a spoiled, petulant child,” Ms. Swift continued, “this is about the new artist or band that has just released their first single and will not be paid for its success. This is about the young songwriters who just got their first cut and thought the royalties would get them out of debt. This is about the producer who works tirelessly to innovate and create, just like the innovators and creators at Apple are pioneering in their field … but will not get paid for a quarter of a year’s worth of plays on his or her songs.
“But I say to Apple with all due respect, it’s not too late to change this policy and change the minds of those in the music industry who will be deeply and gravely affected by this.”
To its credit, Apple’s head of online services, Eddy Cue changed the policy immediately and responded on Twitter within a day that musicians would be paid during the 3-month free trial for consumers. “We hear you #taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple.”
Following classic media training, both the celebrity and the executive used elements of READY FOR MEDIA’s 12-C approach to communications: clear, candid, courteous, compassionate, confident, consistent, credible and convincing, etc … to play and win the media game!