HOLLYWOOD—Taylor Swift made headlines this week for pulling all of her albums away from Spotify’s free service, just two weeks before her new album hit the shelves.
Spotify, who pays artists approximately $0.007 per play, was surprised by the artist’s sudden decision and angrily shot back over the weekend that Taylor Swift will be missing out on $6 million this year from her music.
For Taylor Swift, $6 million is not a huge incentive. Her new album has grossed double that amount in the first two weeks of its release.
Taylor has been very outspoken recently, and was quoted by several news sources explaining, “Music is art, and art is important and rare. Important, rare things are valuable. Valuable things should be paid for.”
While this is a very logical conclusion, Spotify is unwilling to leave it alone. Spotify CEO, Daniel Ek, has been angry that other musicians have followed Swift’s lead, firing back that pirating music hurts the music industry much more than his company’s measly compensation does.
With Taylor Swift leading the mass Exodus, and fans willing to pay for her albums, music enthusiasts wonder if this is the straw that will break the back of streaming companies. Look out, Pandora. You could be next.
