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Taylor Swift vs. Apple

#62
Publicity stunt cooked up by Apple and Taylor Swift's management? Almost certainly. I think that the real danger here is the message that this sends: "Apple Music is so awesome that they pay artists even when giving a free three-month trial to customers!"...which legally they are obligated to do anyway. It also seems to me that Apple publicly reversing their decision and agreeing to pay artists creates the perception that paying artists for their music is something exceptional and not the norm to be expected.
 
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#63
gln1955 said:
First, I'm not privy to the contracts Apple has with the record companies, but I am certain they are not doing anything that isn't allowed by those contracts. They are not blatantly infringing on anyones intellectual property rights. Somebody, many somebodies apparently, did not read the fine print or understand the implications of what they signed with Apple or what the artists signed with their label.
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Then why didn't Apple just say that? I don't buy this at all. If Apple has been honoring their contracts they would have had a press conference and shouted it from the rooftops. They would have saturated social media AND traditional media with this information. But they didn't, did rhey?

Why did Apple pretty much say "Ooooops. Sorry. We'll pay. We were just kidn."?
 
#65
two fingers said:
Then why didn't Apple just say that? I don't buy this at all. If Apple has been honoring their contracts they would have had a press conference and shouted it from the rooftops. They would have saturated social media AND traditional media with this information. But they didn't, did rhey?

Why did Apple pretty much say "Ooooops. Sorry. We'll pay. We were just kidn."?
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I think Apple decided to pay because of the negative PR if they didn't, not because they legally have to. If Apple were violating their contracts, someone would have sued them. Nobody has deeper pockets than Apple.
 
#67
two fingers said:
Nah. As soon as she wrote the thing LOTS of really successful artists chimed in and agreed with her. Twitter blew up with all kinds of artists from all genres thanking her for writing the letter.

Never mind that she was right to begin with. What if a third party decided to give away your goods or services?

Do you think that we should be able to download music for free? If so, how does an artist get paid?

This was simply a big voice calling out Apple for thinking they are so big that nobody would challenge them. They had a lot of nerve promising to deliver something they never produced for no charge. It would be no different than Apple saying they were giving away free burgers at McDonald's and then offering up coupons for them without ever consulting McDonald's. What's the difference?

If you think Apple was right then I'm going to donate all of your stuff to charity. ;)

Not a Taylor Swift fan boy but this took some guts.... and...... again..... she was right.
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For someone already making multi-millions per year to say this doesn't take guts. Her livelihood isn't on the line, and she's doing just fine without the royalties. Not saying she's not right. I just disagree that she's brave for doing this. She's motivated by money she doesn't need, just like every multi-million dollar establishment in the world today.
 
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#69
Kevan Campbell said:
Publicity stunt cooked up by Apple and Taylor Swift's management? Almost certainly. I think that the real danger here is the message that this sends: "Apple Music is so awesome that they pay artists even when giving a free three-month trial to customers!"...which legally they are obligated to do anyway. It also seems to me that Apple publicly reversing their decision and agreeing to pay artists creates the perception that paying artists for their music is something exceptional and not the norm to be expected.
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Now, if only we could get bar owners to follow suit. ;)
 
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#71
bass12 said:
You're equating making a tape with Napster?
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Not exactly, my point is that music has been shared for free for as long as there has been technology to transfer it from one medium to another. I realize that file sharing websites allow for vast numbers of people to share music, so no, it's not exactly the same. But how many millions of copies of popular recordings were shared among friends back in the day? If free music is the issue, it's not a new one.
 
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#72
two fingers said:
None of this is about the "little people". What does class warfare have to do with anything?
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Sarcasm. Swift raises a stink about fair compensation, Apple bends to satisfy her criticism almost immediately. Both Parties end up looking like they care about compensating artists fairly, aka "little people". But me and my tinfoil hat both think it's a shtick and a scheme to promote themselves. Swift gets attention, and suddenly Apple has the streaming service that cares. I'm not buying anything from either of them, so I don't.
 
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#73
bassburner said:
Glad to hear that one single very successful musician is dictating the future of music distribution. Taylor Swift, the Lars Ulrich of the 2010s.
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Exactly. I was talking to a friend about this earlier today. As far as I can tell, Taylor's "protest" benefits only one class of people: wealthy white female musicians named Taylor Swift. Membership: one. It's a masterful PR move. It doesn't really hurt or help anyone but her. She (or more likely her publicist) is counting on the fact that most people won't stop and do the math... they'll just mainly see Tay "taking a stand for the working man"!

"I don't care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right."
-Anon. (commonly attributed to P.T. Barnum)
 
#74
Part of the reason why concert ticket prices are so damn high these days is because artists don't generate enough revenue through album sales. Part of the reason why people don't buy albums is because they think it's ok to get it for free which is complete horsesh*t. Imagine spending endless hours writing, recording, mixing, packaging and manufacturing a product but then people expect it to be free. Not how it's supposed to work.
 
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#76
Music sure has become a sad affair, Taylor Swift? Bruno Mars? Gee.. Pop has been castrated... Man, I miss 70's and 80's radio. If I want balls I have to listen to alternative or anything other than mainstream. Hell, traditional country and Bluegrass has more cred than the crap I'm hearing lately. IMO.. It makes the Romantics seem hardcore! :)
 
#77
kikstand454 said:
Oh i see..... So wanting to keep 200 mercenary photographers off her property where they are trying to catch a photo of her picking her nose is being a twit.

Gotcha.
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Emphasis on public property...as in it's not hers to own or forbid others to use in the first place. If she's worried about that, then she needs to go indoors to pick her nose. Attention comes with the territory, if she can't handle that then she's in the wrong business.
 
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#79
two fingers said:
Then why didn't Apple just say that? I don't buy this at all. If Apple has been honoring their contracts they would have had a press conference and shouted it from the rooftops. They would have saturated social media AND traditional media with this information. But they didn't, did rhey?

Why did Apple pretty much say "Ooooops. Sorry. We'll pay. We were just kidn."?
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Because they have nothing to gain but more negative attention while at the same time alienating a huge earner. They have more to gain by retaining TS than launching a PR attack against her. Ultimately, everybody wins. TS looks like a hero while Apple pretty much maintains status quo.
 
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#80

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