taylorswift:

I write this to explain why I’ll be holding back my album, 1989, from the new streaming service, Apple Music. I feel this deserves an explanation because Apple has been and will continue to be one of my best partners in selling music and creating ways for me to connect with my fans. I respect the…

I’ve come around to Taylor’s corner on many things since she released 1989 and since she’s promoting girl power / feminism hard core to a very young audience.  1989 is an amazing album and she deserves to be recognized for that work, as she has, as all artists deserved to be recognized and paid for their work, but this left a bad taste in my mouth for a good many reasons. 

The Wall Street Journal post she wrote argued about albums versus singles and I think she had a very good point.  I’m an album buyer, myself, preferring an artists who puts out quality over throwing a few things together around guaranteed singles, for the people that will buy the album just to buy the full album.  What she failed to realize then is that a lot of people are singles buyers not because they don’t want the whole record, but because in a world with nearly endless entertainment options and shrinking budgets to explore those items, people are purchasing fewer and fewer things and eliminating costs where they can.  That’s why the business model for the music industry has changed from an artist being valued by how much music they sell and how much money they earn from direct sales to their concert tickets and why that price has increased tremendously - why big pop acts also put on huge shows to make the audience feel that a single ticket upwards of $80 which is pricey in a lot of budgets is worth it, so I commend them for that, but, at the same time, we’re talking about people that, if they invest properly never have to worry about making next month’s mortgage or car payment and definitely don’t have to worry about sending their children to college, with tuition prices spiking. 

What I also found particularly distasteful about this post was Taylor’s decision to not mention the fact that all of her music is on the single priciest streaming music site: Tidal and that Apple is lining itself up to be Tidal’s best competitor.  Let’s face it, Tidal is in real trouble and if Apple understands anything about the entertainment industry, it’s music.  Apple Music is a real threat to Tidal, to investors of Tidal and to streaming revenues that might be incurred by artists who have all of their music lined up on one place, only.   

I’m not a fan of streaming music, personally.  I’m old guard, or more exacting, I choose music as my entertainment outlet of choice, with movies running sometimes in tandem and sometimes a close second and reading not far behind.  I paid for Spotify for months without using it, because it’s interface feels clunky and it left no real room to explore for new artists unless I’d already heard about them or unless I went searching for a playlist.  I like Pandora - a lot for almost the reverse reasons, in that not only did I hear new music from new artists on my stations, but I met people at concerts who had found that artist that I loved via a streaming station - and let’s be clear here, I’m not talking about the titans of the Pop world, like Taylor.  

So, pretending this isn’t about money or a fear of losing power in an industry that is rapidly changing, is ridiculous.  I think I’m safe in assuming that Taylor sits at the top of the industry and while she does help promote artists with less success than she has, I doubt she’s sitting around the table discussing this idea with people that are trying to get heard, are trying to get people to come to their shows, are trying to build an audience.  

The advent of streaming, opened the world to new artists globally.  No longer did you have to go out and seek and stay on top of, you could be blown away in your own stream, find someone that you liked, rather than having an industry shove the person’s music down your throat ten times a day on Top 40 radio stations, which is increasingly playing LESS artists and the music by which is becoming more homogenous and less diverse.  

Where Apple fits into the digital music world is also not inconsiderable.  Apple legitimized digital downloading.  When they or artists saw a problem with music being shared far too easily, they took steps to correct it.  They listen and work both for the musicians and the consumers.  The 99 cent single (now mostly $1.29) made more people buy music and, to this day, if I hear one song of a television show or a movie and I don’t want the full album, I utilize that service versus trying to find the mp3 on LimeWire (is that even still around?).   In fact, just this year, that service allowed me to shamefully or shamelessly purchase two or three singles from a soundtrack I don’t particularly want to admit to liking because the movie and base material are just bad.

I recognize that this post was Taylor’s point of view on Apple’s streaming music, that she has other friends in the industry that feel similar (according to her own admission), but I feel that she’s misrepresenting her point of view entirely.   She can say this isn’t about money for her, all she wants, but at the end of the day, it’s more than apparent that streaming and that new business model presents more competition in a less certain market.  While I understand how that can scare a person, people want to be able to listen to music and closing avenues to them, only exacerbates the demand for those services. 

With Apple investing in a streaming service, they know where the industry is heading.  Trying to give Apple this kind of negative publicity or public discourse, the one leader in the industry that has done more for artists by helping ensure they get paid for their work is understandable only within the scope of legitimate complaints.  However, pretending that the success of other streaming sites isn’t even worth mentioning or that being paid for her work isn’t a concern to her, as all artists should be paid for their work, Taylor brings more chaos into this ever changing model rather than working to strengthen it in favour of the artists she claims to be fighting on behalf of for fairer market place shares.   Worse, if Taylor continues to pretend that her level of success will continue to be obtainable using the old business model and practices without streaming music in play, she risks making herself look ridiculous.