Taylor Swift shocked everyone this week on Spotify when her label, Big Machine Records, pulled all her music from the streaming service. Spotify did not have “1989” available to stream when it came out, which was not a surprise since Swift has made clear her distaste for free streaming sites.
The 40 million subscribers to Spotify won’t be able to listen to her new album, “1989,” or any of Swift’s past albums.
Swift told The Wall Street Journal last summer that “piracy, file sharing and streaming have shrunk the numbers of paid album sales drastically and every artist has handled this blow differently.”
She also has been quoted saying, “Music is art, and art is important and rare. Important, rare things are valuable. Valuable things should be paid for.”
Swift isn’t the first artist to withhold her music from Spotify. For instance, Beyonce’s lastest album only offers 4 songs available to stream.
As Big Machine Records pulled Swift’s songs Monday, Spotify responded by saying how much the company loves Swift.
“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,” Spotify posted on its blog.
Spotify also posted playlists, “A Little Playlist Poetry for Taylor Swift,” and, “What to Play While Taylor’s Away.”
Swift’s music, including “1989” — which sold 1.3 million copies in just the first week of release — is still available on iTunes.
Read more at: abcnews.com
