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Taylor Swift has spoken out in defence of her decision to remove all of her music from Spotify, arguing that she doesn't think music should be free.
The 'Shake It Off' star has already smashed records with the runaway success of new album 1989, but earlier this week made headlines when she pulled all of her music from the streaming service.
Now, she's taken to Yahoo Music to explain her stance:
"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.”
Quite how much Swift was benefitting from Spotify is open to debate. According to Music Ally, Swift may have been making up to £53,000 ($84,000) a week on 'Shake It Off' as the most streamed song on Spotify globally. Naturally Swift herself may only see a fraction of this sum: it depends on her label and publishing deal.
Writing on their official website, Spotify responded to Swift's removal, by saying: "We love Taylor Swift, and our more than 40 million users love her even more – nearly 16 million of them have played her songs in the last 30 days, and she’s on over 19 million playlists.
"We hope she’ll change her mind and join us in building a new music economy that works for everyone. We believe fans should be able to listen to music wherever and whenever they want, and that artists have an absolute right to be paid for their work and protected from piracy. That’s why we pay nearly 70% of our revenue back to the music community.
"PS – Taylor, we were both young when we first saw you, but now there’s more than 40 million of us who want you to stay, stay, stay. It’s a love story, baby, just say, Yes."
Meanwhile, Swift has just announced tour after topping the charts with new album 1989. Full UK dates are below. Tickets to the Glasgow and Manchester dates are on sale now, while the London show tickets are available from 9.30am on Monday 10 November.
For tickets and more information, visit here
Tue June 23 2015 - GLASGOW SSE Hydro
Wed June 24 2015 - MANCHESTER Arena
Sat June 27 2015 - LONDON Hyde Park
Meanwhile, check out her massive list of world tour dates below.
20 May Bossier City, LA CenturyLink Center
22 May Baton Rouge, LA LSU Tiger Stadium
30 May Detroit, MI Ford Field
2 June Louisville, KY KFC Yum! Center
3 June Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena
6 June Pittsburgh, P
A Heinz Field 8 June Charlotte, NC Time Warner Cable Arena
9 June Raleigh, NC PNC Arena
13 June Philadelphia, PA Lincoln Financial Field
20 June Cologne, Germany Lanxess Arena
21 June Amsterdam, The Netherlands Ziggo Dome
23 June Glasgow, UK The SSE Hydro
24 June Manchester, UK Arena
27 June London, UK British Summertime Hyde Park
6 July Ottawa, ON Canadian Tire Centre
7 July Montreal, QC Bell Centre
11 July East Rutherford, NJ MetLife Stadium
13 July Washington, DC Nationals Park
18 July Chicago, IL Soldier Field
24 July Foxborough, MA Gillette Stadium
25 July Foxborough, MA Gillette Stadium
1 August Vancouver, BC BC Place Stadium
4 August Edmonton, AB Rexall Place
5 August Edmonton, AB Rexall Place
8 August Seattle, WA CenturyLink Field
15 August Santa Clara, CA Levi's Stadium
17 August Glendale, AZ Gila River Arena
18 August Glendale, AZ Gila River Arena
25 August Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
26 August Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
29 August San Diego, CA PETCO Park
4 September Salt Lake City, UT EnergySolutions Arena
5 September Denver, CO Pepsi Center
6 September Denver, CO Pepsi Center
9 September Fargo, ND Fargodome
11 September St. Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
12 September St. Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
16 September Indianapolis, IN Bankers Life Fieldhouse
17 September Columbus, OH Nationwide Arena
18 September Columbus, OH Nationwide Arena
21 September Kansas City, MO Sprint Center
22 September Kansas City, MO Sprint Center
25 September Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
26 September Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
2 October Toronto, ON Rogers Centre
3 October Toronto, ON Rogers Centre
8 October Des Moines, IA Wells Fargo Arena
9 October Omaha, NE CenturyLink Center
10 October Omaha, NE CenturyLink Center
13 October St. Louis, MO Scottrade Center
14 October St. Louis, MO Scottrade Center
17 October Dallas, TX AT&T Stadium
20 October Lexington, KY Rupp Arena
21 October Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum Complex
24 October Atlanta, GA Georgia Dome
27 October Miami, FL AmericanAirlines Arena
31 October Tampa, FL Raymond James Stadium
