Taylor Swift and Apple - BFFs after all

Way back at the dawn of time, Apple Music time that is, Taylor Swift had a beef with Apple Music.   This wasn't her first run in with a big corporation.  She had previously taken on Spotify and withdrawn her music from their service because she felt what they paid the artists for the music devalued it.  Her battle with Apple was a similar one and eventually forced them to change their policy.  They now pay artists for tracks played during a user's three month free trial period of using Apple Music.   Now that Apple have bowed to her demands, Taylor Swift's music is streamed exclusively on Apple Music - forcing fans to sign up to the service if they want to stream her music. On top of this, if fans want to watch video of her most recent tour, they will also have to sign up to Apple Music.  Her 'DVD' of her 1989 tour is being exclusively streamed on the service.

What does all this show? The power of the artist?  The power of the institution?  A reduction in consumer choice?

How Much Do Artists Make From Spotify?

Time Magazine has created an interesting Spotify earnings calculator where you can see how much major artists earn through being streamed on Spotify.  It's well worth looking at as evidence for the debate over whether streaming is really the future of music distribution. As we know Taylor Swift removed her music from Spotify, claiming that the amount paid doesn't place enough value on her music.  In the past the musician Billy Bragg has claimed that the problem isn't with how much Spotify pays per stream ($0.06 - $0.84 according to Time) but the percentage that the record company takes before the artist gets paid.

Physical Release of U2's album promises more

You may have wondered why U2 would 'give away' Songs of Innocence for free through the iTunes 'gift'. As TV ads have promised in the last few days, the gift was really just a taster of the physical 'deluxe' release. Buy the deluxe CD and you get a load of tracks not available through the iTunes gift.  This article also has some interesting numbers regarding how many people downloaded the gift version - nearly twice as many as those who have ever downloaded U2 material through iTunes.

Need new Radiohead music? There's an app for that.

Having released a whole album via their website a few years ago, Radiohead have now used their app to give fans a chance to hear their first new music in three years. Another example of how digital technology is fundamentally changing the distribution and promotion of music. Read this article to find out more, including interactive features that are built into the listening experience.