Apple reverse 'no royalty' launch policy after Swift pulls out

Apple Music has reversed its (non) payment policy, a day after the singer Taylor Swift said she was refusing to allow the company to stream her album 1989 because the computer and music giant were offering no royalties in a three month launch period free trial period for subscribers. Indepdent record labels and their trade bodies including AIM (UK), A2IM (US), UFPI (France) and VUT (Germany) had already voiced their critcims. Now Apple says it will pay artists for music streamed during trial periods. "We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple," tweeted executive Eddy @Cue. Swift had said the plan was "unfair", arguing Apple had the money to cover the cost and AIM CEO Alison Wenham had written to AIM members to encourage them to "make their own decision" about Apple Music - but criticised the new streaming service for essentially "asking the independent music sector to hedge its risk, to fund their customer acquisition programme and to shoulder the financial burden for their global launch."

http://www.musicweek.com/news/read/german-and-french-organisations-latest-to-criticise-apple-music-terms/062110

And see Eamonn Forde's article in the Guadian here