Taylor Swift Advocates for Artists and Their Art

 

When Taylor Swift first came onto the music scene, she signed with an independent label, Big Machine Records. Since this label was relatively unknown at the time, Swift and her producers had to bring demos of her songs to radio stations and ask them to play her music.  Swift has definitely come a long way from her teenage years, and has now become one of most recognizable music artists in the world.  What is surprising about Taylor Swift is that she is a phenomenal business woman. Swift is a huge advocate for artists because she illustrates that music is art and that people should have to pay for that art; she then proceeded by taking her music off of music streaming websites like Spotify because she did not feel comfortable with fans listening to her music for free.  Swift also stood up to Apple because during Apple Music’s free three month trial, no artists were getting paid.

     For the past sixteen years, music sales have been shrinking due to online streaming of music for free or piracy.  Taylor Swift points out that online streaming music websites are the main reasons that artists’ albums are not selling and that leads to artists not receiving any compensation for the music they make. Swift took all her music off Spotify because she felt that no one was appreciating the art that she was releasing.  She told Time Magazine interviewer, Jack Dickey that people “can still listen to my music if they get it on iTunes.”

                                                        

     Carrying on, by taking her music off of music streaming websites and having people pay for her new album 1989, or her previous albums guarantees her compensation for her music.  According to Billboard.com, Swift’s album 1989 sold a little bit over a million albums in the first week when it was released back in October of 2014.  With her music off the music streaming websites, fans have no other option but to buy the album on iTunes or in stores.  With her music sales through the roof, Swift is advocating for the little people of the music industry to follow her lead, and make fans pay for their art, instead of listening for free or pirating music.

     Furthermore, Apple is always coming up with new ways to promote music.  ITunes is a huge music store where mostly everyone purchases their music.  Apple came up with a new music streaming website called Apple Music that offers a free three month trial to the public.  Sounds amazing, right?  Of course it sounds amazing, but there happens to be one little problem, and that is artists will not be receiving any compensation during those three months.  Some people who are just listeners did not even know that artists would not be receiving any compensation for this trial. Taylor Swift wrote a letter to Apple via Tumblr stating “I’m not sure you know that Apple 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.” The CEO of Apple, Tim Cook quickly responded to Swift’s problem, and now artists will be receiving money during the Apple Music free trial.  Taylor Swift confronting Apple was a smart move not only for herself, but for other artists especially the new artists who just released their first album.  Swift has put five albums out and is a multimillionaire and she has enough money to rent out stadiums, and to pay her crew.  On the other hand,  new artists don’t have as much money and need the money from their music sales in order to pay the recording studio and their bills.

 

 

       As the saying goes, if you want something to change, you must change it yourself. Taylor Swift seems to have no problem voicing her opinions about online streaming websites hurting artists.  She is also helping artists out by making sure that they receive their fair share of money from their music sales.  If you disagree with this, and say that people should be allowed to listen to music for free think again.  Imagine you are a painter, and your beautiful landscape is hanging in an art museum.  Then all of a sudden, someone wants your painting, and rips it down from the wall and walks away with it.  How would you feel? Hurt maybe.  Outraged, yes! You want the money because you worked hard to paint the picture.  After that scenario, do you still think music should be free?

 

 

 

Works Cited

Caulfield, Keith. "Official: Taylor Swift's '1989' Debuts With 1.287 Million Sold In First Week."  

        Billboard. n.p., Nov.-Dec. 2014. Web.

      <http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6304536/official-taylor-swifts-1989-    

        debuts-with-1287-million-sold-in>.

Dickey, Jack. "Taylor Swift on 1989, Spotify, Her Next Tour and Female Role Models." Time.

      n.p., Nov.-Dec. 2014. Web. <http://time.com/3578249/taylor-swift-interview/>.

 Swift, Taylor. "To Apple, Love Taylor." Taylor Swift. n.p., June-July 2015. Web.

       <http://taylorswift.tumblr.com/post/122071902085/to-apple-love-taylor>.