Music Industry

After declaring it the enemy, Taylor Swift has embraced streaming. What can we learn from this?

It wasn’t all that long ago that Taylor Swift was railing against the evils of streaming companies like Spotify in publications like the Wall Street Journal. Now, though, she’s had a road-to-Damascus conversion. Streaming? Tay-Tay’s all for it. What happened?

The Economist has asked the same question.

“Her seventh album, Lover, was released on streaming services and in physical form simultaneously on August 23rd. Why did Ms Swift relent? The first answer is probably that she had won all her battles. While Spotify’s royalty rates are never going to match those from physical sales, it can still generate tremendous revenues for popular artists. And, on signing to Universal last year, Ms Swift was promised that when the company sold its stake in Spotify, it would distribute the money to its artists, without that payment being counted against any debts they had to the label. She had taken on those she felt were penalising musicians and she had beaten them. Now was the time to ally with her former foes.”

This is important. Keep reading.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 39149 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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