Taylor Swift sounds off on Apple Music free trial


I'm sure you are aware that Apple Music will be offering a free 3 month trial to anyone who signs up for the service. I'm not sure you know that Apple Music will not be paying writers, producers, or artists for those three months. I find it to be shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company.

This is not about me. Thankfully I am on my fifth album and can support myself, my band, crew, and entire management team by playing live shows. 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 songwriter who just got his or her first cut and thought that the royalties from that 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.

Her position appears to be on principle, rather than specifically Apple as she made similar statement last year on her decision to pull the same album from Spotify:

I'm not willing to contribute my life's work to an experiment that I don't feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists, and creators of this music. And I just don't agree with perpetuating the perception that music has no value and should be free.

The length of the three month trial appears to be a sore spot with the industry. Spotify has a similar unpaid free trail, but that is only 30 days.

The pragmatic position here is by giving consumers an extended trial they will be more likely to continue with a subscription. This trial is a chance for customer's of other music subscription services to give a whirl, and also people like me who don't subscribe to any music services to also try it out. In the long run, it would seem reasonable it will benefit all involved. The catch is if you're an artist and your song peaks during that free trial, you may have lost out on a chunk of revenue.

To compensate for this, Apple reportedly has boosted the payout a few points. Again, in the long run this should help offset potential losses from a trial.

I think though the larger argument is the general revenue model of music. Swift feels music has value and shouldn't be free, but there's a lot of money to be made with touring, sponsorships, merchandise, and other promotional deals. Outside of the top 40 charts, it wouldn't be surprising if there's more money to be made outside of actual music sales. The more people who listen to an artist's music, bigger the opportunities for these revenue streams. In fact, the small artists Swift cites may actually benefit the most in the free trial.

On the flip side, Apple is so huge, they could just eat the fees of two of the three free months and just offer one unpaid month similar to Spotify. Everyone would be happy and Apple would have built a lot of good will. But then, there could be charges of anti-competitiveness.

Either way, if an artist doesn't feel comfortable with their music being available during Apple's free trial, they should certainly feel comfortable withholding their work. It will be interesting to see how many artists eventually sign on.