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Taylor Swift Slams Spotify, Streaming Technology

ByTed Schwerzler|

Streaming music services have long been a big part of technological advancement in the music industry, but Taylor Swift is not a fan at all.

Taylor Swift recently released her newest album, 1989, and prior to doing so, pulled all of her catalog off of Spotify. The streaming music service saw one of the biggest names in pop, pull all of her works away from their service. While it may seem a little bit of an over-reaction, she may have a point.

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When discussing why she decided to remove her music from the widely popular streaming service, Taylor Swift was pretty pointed in her words, but she was also rather calculated.

Here’s what Swift had to say:

"If I had streamed the new album, it’s impossible to try to speculate what would have happened. But all I can say is that music is changing so quickly, and the landscape of the music industry itself is changing so quickly, that everything new, like Spotify, all feels to me a bit like a grand experiment. And I’m not willing to contribute my life’s work to an experiment that I don’t feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists, and creators of this music. And I just don’t agree with perpetuating the perception that music has no value and should be free. I wrote an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal this summer that basically portrayed my views on this. I try to stay really open-minded about things, because I do think it’s important to be a part of progress. But I think it’s really still up for debate whether this is actual progress, or whether this is taking the word “music” out of the music industry. Also, a lot of people were suggesting to me that I try putting new music on Spotify with “Shake It Off,” and so I was open-minded about it. I thought, “I will try this; I’ll see how it feels.” It didn’t feel right to me. I felt like I was saying to my fans, “If you create music someday, if you create a painting someday, someone can just walk into a museum, take it off the wall, rip off a corner off it, and it’s theirs now and they don’t have to pay for it.” I didn’t like the perception that it was putting forth. And so I decided to change the way I was doing things."

Let’s dissect this a little bit. While I refuse to subject to the thought that a streaming service that has been around as long as Swift’s music is an experiment, she does bring up one solid point (even if it is an oversight).

Streaming services cut checks that even stars would laugh at. Pandora, Spotify, and others pay musicians based on their channel and how many times their songs are listened to. However, the payouts are so minimal, that considering them a profit is silly.

That being said, with Taylor Swift making money hand over fist through the retail sale of her albums, streaming services shouldn’t be viewed as a source of revenue, but instead another avenue of branding.

I do understand her point, but the negative publicity here is likely not worth the branding and recognition having her name on such services offers.

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