Taylor Swift says Apple Music's three-month trial is a big mistake

Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift wants artists to get their due.

Taylor Swift has well and truly put the cat among the pigeons this Sunday with a Tumblr post criticising Apple for its approach to royalties - specifically during the three-month free trial that all Apple Music users will get through iOS.

It sounds like artists won't receive any payments during that three-month period, and they aren't too happy about it. Taylor Swift is by far the biggest name to voice her complaints so far.

The decision over royalties is "shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company" she writes. "We simply do not respect this particular call."

Money matters

Swift calls Apple an "incredible company" that just might have the wherewithal to get streaming music right - but "three months is a long time to go unpaid" she says.

According to the singer-songwriter everyone else in the music industry feels the same, which is why she's taken the step of calling Apple out on it. "Please don't ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation," she writes.

With Apple Music launching at the end of June alongside iOS 8.4, it's not certain that Apple can reverse its royalties decision even if it wanted to. It looks like the company is off to a bad start with its new music service, at least as far as artist relations are concerned.

Via The Next Web

David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.