Apple Music loses important exclusive as Taylor Swift comes to Spotify, other services

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited June 2017
Beginning on Friday, the back catalog of pop singer Taylor Swift will be available on all major streaming services, putting an end to one of Apple's most useful exclusives.




An announcement came in unison with Swift's "1989" album selling 10 million copies worldwide, and reaching 100 Million Song Certification with the Recording Industry Association of America. Some services getting the artist's discography will include Amazon Music, Tidal, Pandora Premium, and industry leader Spotify.

Swift's music will be available on both the free and Premium tiers of Spotify, TechCrunch sources said.

The singer infamously pulled most of her music from Spotify in 2014, upset that the company wouldn't limit it to Premium subscribers. Earlier this year however the service reached deals to pay lower royalties to some labels in exchange for two-week delays on some high-profile records, applied to non-Premium customers.

Swift initially took a similar stance against Apple Music, since Apple was planning to skip paying any royalties for streams during a listener's three-month trial. An open letter prompted the company to immediately reverse course.

In fact Swift became not just an exclusive for Apple but a marquee figure, appearing in several ads and a concert film. Her global popularity may have kept some listeners from switching to other platforms.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 29
    ericthehalfbeeericthehalfbee Posts: 4,485member
    How can anything be considered an exclusive over a year after it came out?
    bshankmarkiezyyStrangeDays
  • Reply 2 of 29
    adonissmuadonissmu Posts: 1,776member
    I think people make more of these holdouts to streaming than they should. 
    mejsricvukasika
  • Reply 3 of 29
    Blame Bozoma
  • Reply 4 of 29
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Blame Bozoma
    "Thanks, Bozo!"
  • Reply 5 of 29
    evilutionevilution Posts: 1,399member
    Apple have had her albums for years. Her last album was 3 years ago. How have they "lost an exclusive"?
    mejsricvukasika
  • Reply 6 of 29
    bestkeptsecretbestkeptsecret Posts: 4,265member

    The headline makes it sound overly negative. Why?

    That pic isn't doing any favours to her. She looks like a batty old lady with her cat.

    edited June 2017 mejsricvukasikajbdragon
  • Reply 7 of 29
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    How can anything be considered an exclusive over a year after it came out?
    Age has no barring on exclusivity. In the early days of cable TV I remember all sorts of movies that had been on the big screen years or decades earlier get exclusive rights to be the only network/channel to broadcast that film.
    edited June 2017 cali
  • Reply 8 of 29
    mwhitemwhite Posts: 287member

    The headline makes it sound overly negative. Why?

    That pic isn't doing any favours to her. She looks like a batty old lady with her cat.

    If this is what she looks like in bed FORGET IT I'm out....
    spice-boy
  • Reply 9 of 29
    bshankbshank Posts: 255member
    I thought her big thing was being against free streaming services, and standing up for Indy labels against free streaming 🤔
    longpath
  • Reply 10 of 29
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    evilution said:
    Apple have had her albums for years. Her last album was 3 years ago. How have they "lost an exclusive"?
    Because it's not exclusive anymore. Smh.
  • Reply 11 of 29
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    Does anyone think she will sell more begin on more services. One thing about music most people do not upgrade their music library when the record labels repackage the music. This whole deal with Apple ran its full course and the record label is trying to get those last pennies. 

    When this happen I thought Taylor fans we are were mostly young and she was forcing them into some sort of paid subscription. Most young people I know are still using the free tiers one Spotify or Pandora very few at are posting for Apple music.
  • Reply 12 of 29
    titantigertitantiger Posts: 300member
    evilution said:
    Apple have had her albums for years. Her last album was 3 years ago. How have they "lost an exclusive"?
    If Apple Music were the only place you could stream The Beatles or Led Zeppelin catalogs, wouldn't that be an exclusive?  They haven't done original music for decades.  Doesn't matter how old the last album is.  If one service has all of an artist's titles and none of the others do, that is by definition "exclusive."
    ddawson100mike1mwhite
  • Reply 13 of 29
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Another failure for Apple. How much longer can these failures go on? Failure after failure after failure. Well, at least according to AI and other tech blogs. It’s all in the wording, the inference, isn’t it.
    StrangeDays
  • Reply 14 of 29
    lkrupp said:
    Another failure for Apple. How much longer can these failures go on? Failure after failure after failure. Well, at least according to AI and other tech blogs. It’s all in the wording, the inference, isn’t it.
    I'm no fan of Apple Music and streaming services in general [1] but to me, this is not a failure but just one of the ups and downs of business.
    to me this is 'Meh' and of little significance to Apple in general.

    [1] Can't see the point of paying for the service and the internet connection to listen to a song I probably have on Vinyl or Cassette or CD or Legally downloaded. YMMV.
    As for new music, the likes of Bob Harris is good enough for me and I listen to him on good old Radio.
  • Reply 15 of 29
    smaffeismaffei Posts: 237member
    First Hiddleston. Now Apple. Can no one get exclusive access to Taylor swift anymore?
    vukasikaRayz2016
  • Reply 16 of 29
    ericthehalfbeeericthehalfbee Posts: 4,485member
    Soli said:
    How can anything be considered an exclusive over a year after it came out?
    Age has no barring on exclusivity. In the early days of cable TV I remember all sorts of movies that had been on the big screen years or decades earlier get exclusive rights to be the only network/channel to broadcast that film.

    In music it sure does. Everyone wants the latest. Who's hot, who's up and coming. Which is why people scramble for the newest album by Drake (for example). Having "the next big thing" for 30 days before anyone else is a big deal. Until the next artist comes along.

    Someone mentioned The Beatles and Led Zeppelin. Not the same. The music industry has changed permanently. Taylor Swift, as popular as she is, won't be remembered 50 years later. To quote the lyrics of a Zappacosta song, "It's all been done before". There will never be another group like The Beatles that redefines music and has a lasting impact.


    On a related note, I find the flip-flop of people posting online to be quite funny. When Apple gets Taylor Swift as an exclusive it doesn't mean anything because her music is garbage. When they lose Taylor Swift it's suddenly a huge loss. Apple is doomed either way. 
    bshank
  • Reply 17 of 29
    Who?
    tryd
  • Reply 18 of 29
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    The real tragedy here is that the poor woman clearly can't afford a donut. 
    mike1pscooter63
  • Reply 19 of 29
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    First off, it's still an exclusive regardless of how old it is, if you're the only one with that music.
    Second, did anybody ever say or expect this exclusive to last forever??? Typically, you want the exclusive when something is new so you can capture most of the sales. One year is a pretty good run. We'll understand how successful this particular exclusive was for Apple and Swift when she releases her next album.
  • Reply 20 of 29
    cyclonuscyclonus Posts: 3unconfirmed, member
    It's WWDC week. This isn't a slow news week. How on Earth does AI run with something this uninteresting? That album was so 2 years ago. How is this spun into a loss for Apple? The album has clearly reached the point in it's cycle where it needs to expand it's reach to keep moving streams.
    StrangeDays
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