11 ms·

Out of curiosity, and on a similar note, is Spotify not paying artists during their "3 months for $0.99 promotional period"? I guess that would explain why her

Out of curiosity, and on a similar note, is Spotify not paying artists during their "3 months for $0.99 promotional period"? I guess that would explain why her 1989 album isn't there either... At least she's consistent. I'd lean on the side of Apple eating the cost during the period, not the artists.

themartorana 11y ago
With the market cap and war chest they have, it's incredibly disappointing that Apple expects artists to bear the brunt of Apple's business decision. For every Taylor Swift there are thousands of artists just scraping by (and thousands more hoping to reach "just scraping by.") I lose a decent amount of respect for Apple with this call. (And Taylor Swift is hardly the first artist to express disappointment and/or outrage at this "decision" by Apple.)
- msh 11y ago
  Do you think the labels don't have a war chest? Most of the big artists are not independents but part of a mega corp label.
mcintyre1994 11y ago
I'm not sure about your Spotify question, but I believe Taylor Swift pulled all her music from there because they wouldn't agree to making it paid only (referring to their freemium offering and not the trial there). I think that's why beyond this she has so much respect for Apple's offering - they're obviously already an important player and artists want paid - and only paid, streaming.
- krisdol 11y ago
  Honestly from the point of view it's pretty good for consumers. Making her album paid-only would have improved the conversion-to-premium rate, whereas making her album free increases active users. I guess they opted for more users, maybe to look more attractive for more funding?
  - mcintyre1994 11y ago
    Yep, they do have a fantastic conversion rate though - last I read was 15m paying of 60m users [0] - 25% must be among the best for freemium. So in that sense I can see why they probably optimise heavily for more users. I imagine there are a fair chunk of artists who would take the premium only route if they could too - I guess they want to avoid that. [0] http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/12/spotify-60m-users-15m-subscribers http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/12/spotify-60...

themartorana 11y ago

With the market cap and war chest they have, it's incredibly disappointing that Apple expects artists to bear the brunt of Apple's business decision. For every Taylor Swift there are thousands of artists just scraping by (and thousands more hoping to reach "just scraping by.") I lose a decent amount of respect for Apple with this call. (And Taylor Swift is hardly the first artist to express disappointment and/or outrage at this "decision" by Apple.)

msh 11y ago
Do you think the labels don't have a war chest? Most of the big artists are not independents but part of a mega corp label.

mcintyre1994 11y ago

I'm not sure about your Spotify question, but I believe Taylor Swift pulled all her music from there because they wouldn't agree to making it paid only (referring to their freemium offering and not the trial there). I think that's why beyond this she has so much respect for Apple's offering - they're obviously already an important player and artists want paid - and only paid, streaming.

krisdol 11y ago
Honestly from the point of view it's pretty good for consumers. Making her album paid-only would have improved the conversion-to-premium rate, whereas making her album free increases active users. I guess they opted for more users, maybe to look more attractive for more funding?
- mcintyre1994 11y ago
  Yep, they do have a fantastic conversion rate though - last I read was 15m paying of 60m users [0] - 25% must be among the best for freemium. So in that sense I can see why they probably optimise heavily for more users. I imagine there are a fair chunk of artists who would take the premium only route if they could too - I guess they want to avoid that. [0] http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/12/spotify-60m-users-15m-subscribers http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/12/spotify-60...