Apple Stock News
Apple changed plans on Sunday night not to pay artists during a three-month free trial period for its music streaming service that it would offer its loyal customers. This comes after Taylor Swift published a Tumblr post publicly shaming the company, claiming that artists would not ask for free iPhones so Apple shouldn’t ask for free music. The same day, Apple executives led by Eddy Cue announced that the company had changed their stance and would pay artists during the free trial.
Swift had threatened to pull her album from Apple Music, the new streaming service, much like she did from Spotify’s streaming service. The incredibly popular artist has enough leverage to pull her music from such services, as her latest album 1989 went on to sell millions of copies. Spotify was fine as well, with its paid subscribers doubling over the last year. Apple Music is new to the streaming market, however, and needs all the goodwill it can get.
Entering into competition with Spotify, as well as other streaming services like Tidal and Pandora, Apple cannot afford the bad press that comes from being publicly shamed by artists like Swift. Her threats to pull her album, which were mirrored by smaller Indie artists, would have been an embarrassment ahead of the launch that the company could not afford. By changing its plans, Apple has shown its flexibility and capability to quickly change to position itself well in new markets.
