The good news: Apple will be offering a new service, launching at the end of June, called Apple Music, where users can stream tunes like they do in Spotify. The first three months of this service count as a free trial.
The bad news: Taylor Swift brought to the attention of music fans everywhere through an open letter to Apple 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.”
She was particularly concerned with how this might affect new up-and-coming artists: “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.”
But, lo and behold, more good news follows: after reading Swift’s letter, among concerns from other artists, Apple has changed its mind, according to Billboard. Senior vice president of internet services and software Eddy Cue tweeted that Apple Music will compensate artists for streaming, even during the free trial period.
Further, Cue told Billboard: “When I woke up this morning and saw what Taylor had written, it really solidified that we needed a change. And so that’s why we decide we will now pay artists during the trial period.”
Calvin Harris tweeted in support: “I just played a gig inside a giant owl and my girl just changed the entire music industry what a day”