It would be hard to believe that a mighty corporation like Apple could be taken to task by a 25 year old female pop singer. But when your name is Taylor Swift and you have just sold 6 million albums and have a twitter following of 59 million, it is probably wise to sit up and listen. Which is exactly what Apple Corporation has just done. Apple has agreed to pay royalties to music labels and publishers during the three-month free trial of its new streaming services. Up until yesterday, publishers had been told that they would not received royalties during the that time.
Many had complained. The transient nature of music meant for some that they would end up with no royalties at all. A good song might only remain a good song for a month or two. In stepped Taylor Swift, and where other voices had not been heard, hers was loud and clear. This caused Eddy Cue, Apple’s Senior Vice President for Internet Software and Services to respond in record time and reverse the no-royalty decision.
One could question Swift’s motives for her action. Indeed, the response by Apple was so fast there have been rumours of a clever Swift-Apple publicity stunt. However, Swift has not yet said she will put her music on the Apple platform and a short time ago she withdrew her music from Spotify for similar reasons. Swift stated, “These are not the complaints of a spoiled, petulant child. These are the echoed sentiments of every artist, writer and producer in my social circles who are afraid to speak up publicly because we admire and respect Apple so much. We simply do not respect this particular call“. In this she appears to be quite genuine.
This is a very good example of the good that can come out of listening to your suppliers and customers. Publicity stunt or not, both Apple and Taylor Swift will do well out of this episode. Along the way, the hosts of smaller suppliers and Apple’s customers will also benefit. It also demonstrates that when push comes to shove, turning around a decision, even in a very large corporation, can be done in record time if there is a compelling reason.
