Penny-pinching the heart of Taylor Swift’s Spotify defiance
This article is part of a face-off: to read the other viewpoint in which Jackie Schicker thinks Taylor Swift has the right to charge for her music, click here.
Singer Taylor Swift made an interesting move when her latest album, “1989”, dropped back in October: she did not allow it on Spotify and removed her whole catalog from the service. This was a mistake.
By ignoring Spotify and other streaming services, Swift and other artists who have refused to put their music on the services have ignored a large swath of potential listeners.
While Beyoncé did not initially have the entirety of her surprise self-titled album on Spotify, a few songs were on the service.
Here’s the difference between Beyoncé and Swift: Bey did not straight-up remove her whole catalog of songs off of Spotify. Beyoncé cares about her fans and wants her music to be listened to through whatever medium possible. Swift seemingly does not feel the same way.
Spotify is the future of music. Billboard, the agency that tracks and ranks music on sales, has recognized this and incorporated many streaming music services into its charts.
While this move really did not affect Swift’s No. 1 position on the Billboard charts, in the future it very well could.
There is one thing that trumps being a musical artist: money.
When one of Spotify’s 60 million users, 15 million of whom are paying subscribers, stream their music, they are not doing it for free. Those who don’t pay the $10 fee for ad-free streaming must endure commercials.
Spotify isn’t just pocketing all of that money. It has paid $2 billion to the music rights holders since launching in 2008. Previously, Swift has taken money from Spotify when her music was on the service.
What’s the difference between making money off of Spotify versus iTunes? Nothing.
Swift would have been in a win-win situation by offering the album everywhere.
Those who say artists ought to be paid for their creations are just not looking at the big picture. The artists are getting paid.
What difference does it make for Swift who is worth millions and hails from a wealthy family.
Swift is penny-pinching just to do it.
If she truly cared about her music, T-Swizzle would just let people listen to her music where they want.
Music artists should not follow in the vein of Swift. They should offer their music everywhere.
Until Swift shakes off this nonsensical decision, Spotify will continue to have a blank space where Swift used to be.