Apple bows to Taylor Swift on streaming payments

Tech giant Apple late June 21 bowed to pressure from pop superstar Taylor Swift and raised payments to artists for its forthcoming music streaming service.

The about-face by one of the world's most powerful companies showed the extraordinary influence of the 25-year-old Swift, who had vowed a partial boycott of the new Apple Music service.
 
Swift, saying that she was speaking up for artists afraid of upsetting Apple, had called the company's behavior "shocking" over its earlier plan not to pay for streams during customers' initial three-month free trial.    

Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet software and services, said late June 21 that the company had shifted course and would compensate for streams in all stages.
 
Apple music "will pay artist(s) for streaming, even during (customers') free trial period," he wrote on Twitter.
 
Mimicking Swift's earlier protest, Cue wrote, "We love you (Taylor) and indie artists. Love, Apple."  

Cue separately told industry journal Billboard that he telephoned Swift, who is in Amsterdam on her tour, after receiving approval from Apple CEO Tim Cook.
 
He insisted that Apple never intended to avoid compensation and had heard plenty of concern from others besides Swift, although he was moved to action after she went public.
         
Apple, which revolutionized the music industry through digital downloads with iTunes, on June 30 launches its new streaming platform as customers quickly shift to such on-demand, unlimited Internet catalogs.
 
Swift has been an outspoken critic of streaming leader Spotify, last year pulling her entire catalog as she charged that the Swedish company compensates artists too little.
 
Swift...