We've all loved T-Swizzle since her early days, but I don't think any of us could have anticipated how this girl:
could somehow turn into this woman:
Swift made headlines earlier this year when she chose to remove her catalog from popular music streaming service, Spotify, saying she felt that Spotify devalues artists' work while also contributing to fewer album sales, since listeners can just stream almost any music they want without even paying for Spotify's premium service. She said, "Everybody's complaining about how music sales are shrinking, but nobody's changing the way they're doing things. They keep running towards streaming, which is, for the most part, what has been shrinking the numbers of paid album sales."
Fast forward from November 2014 to June 2015, with Apple poised to launch its new streaming service, Apple Music, starting with a three-month trial period. Apple's initial plan to not pay royalties to the music industry during this three month trial period did not sit well with T-Swift, who composed a letter to Apple to express her concern for other artists in the industry, saying,
"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."
Ar the end of the same day her letter was posted, Apple gave in and agreed to pay artists during the trial period, though they have yet to specify how exactly they will decide how much to pay each artist. Apple has stated that once the trial ends and the full service is launched, they plan to pay each artist 71.5 percent of their revenue in royalties.
This move proves just how powerful this girl who used to cry on her guitar has gotten. With the click of a button, she managed to get one of the most powerful companies in the world to do exactly what she wanted them to. Taylor Swift has transcended her original place in our culture as just another female pop star, and has truly become one of the most powerful (guitar) players in the music industry, all while dressing like a daydream.
