Taylor Swift Speaks and Apple Listens, How the Superstar Became Music’s Most Powerful Voice; As Kanye West learned the hard way back in 2009, it’s not smart to mess with Taylor Swift.
The rapper’s attempt to upstage the then-teenage singer-songwriter during an awards show backfired almost immediately, with West’s “Imma let you finish” becoming a snarky Internet catchphrase.
Few today would dare grab the microphone from Swift, now 25. Her clout was underscored Sunday when she forced Apple — financially, the world’s mightiest company — to abandon plans to withhold artist royalties for music streamed during the three-month free trial period for Apple Music.
“Three months is a long time to go unpaid, and it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing,” Swift said in an open letter to Apple in which she threatened to withhold her latest album, “1989,” from the service. “I say this with love, reverence, and admiration for everything else Apple has done.”
That was enough. Apple executive Eddy Cue, who oversees Internet services including iTunes and Apple Music, spoke with Swift that day and later posted on Twitter that the company had changed course.
“Apple will always make sure that artist are paid,” Cue tweeted Sunday night. “#AppleMusic will pay artist[s] for streaming, even during customer’s free trial period.”
Neil Young’s longtime manager Elliot Roberts called it “a watershed moment” and a rare victory for musicians who have seen their earnings from recorded music steadily decline in the digital age.
“This is a chance for artists to finally reclaim their art,” he said. “I applaud Taylor for finally standing up for that concept.”
Others had complained about Apple’s plans, to no avail. Few in the industry were surprised that Apple listened to Swift.
“She wields a mighty sword,” said Nielsen analyst David Bakula. “She is at the top of the game. She is the most well-known, most well-liked and most outspoken artist out there. When Taylor speaks, it’s so much more than just her social media following.”
Swift has demonstrated business savvy and self-assuredness on a par with her songwriting skills throughout her career.
At 11, she persuaded her parents to travel from their home in Wyomissing, Pa., to visit Nashville so she could pursue her interest in songwriting. She released her self-titled first album when she was 16.
Her record label, Big Machine Records, was practically a start-up when Taylor signed with it — because label head Scott Borchetta promised her a strong hand in writing and producing her own work.
In person, Swift is assertive and intensely focused but also engaging. She has a politician’s way with interviewers, asking them about family members they’ve mentioned in the past and sharing anecdotes that illuminate her own family dynamics.
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Last November, she pulled her catalog from Spotify, the Swedish streaming service that counts 20 million paying subscribers, in a dispute over Spotify’s so-called freemium model, which gives users free access if they tolerate commercials between songs. About 55 million people use the free version of Spotify.
For artists less popular than Swift — and that’s almost everyone — pulling music from Spotify and similar services means missing out on a fast-growing business and lots of exposure. But Swift is in a rare position of power to put pressure on the tech companies.
“It’s my opinion that music should not be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will someday decide what an album’s price point is,” Swift wrote in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal last year. “I hope they don’t underestimate themselves or undervalue their art.”
Read the whole article here:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-apple-taylor-swift-20150623-story.html#page=1
By Ryan Faughnder and Randy Lewis; Times staff writer Andrea Chang contributed to this report.
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ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME DISMISSES AT LEAST 16 MEMBERS
Is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame getting ready to ignore its roots? Or is the Hall looking for a new approach in appreciating the founders of rock ‘n’ roll? Industry pundits fear the worst but hope for the best.
On Thursday, Jon Landau — the head of the nominating committee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — emailed an undisclosed number of committee members telling them their services are no longer needed. Sources suggest that as many as 16 of the 42 nominating committee have been given their walking papers. But what’s got some worried is that the move has wiped out more than half of the Hall’s Early Rock and R&B Influencers subcommittee, as at least four of the seven subcommittee members were among those given the heave-ho. They are veteran A&R executive Joe McEwen, a blues and R&B expert; Greg Geller, a label executive specializing in reissues; Arthur Levy, a senior writer at a number of major record labels; and Bob Merlis, one of the industry’s most renowned publicists who is now independent but was at Warner Bros. Records from the early 1970s through the 1990s.
“They just got rid of the guys who have all the histories of thousands of artists in their heads,” says one longtime music industry participant. “That’s like letting go the intent of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
The Influencers subcommittee — which still includes Q-Prime principal Cliff Bernstein, Sire Records chairman Seymour Stein and Roots drummer Questlove — are a panel of knowledgeable people who come up with nominees to be considered by the wider nominating committee.
“I just hope that the musicians whose contributions in the past made rock ‘n’ roll the thing that it became are not forgotten,” says one member of the nominating committee who didn’t want to be identified but confirmed he was thanked for his services.
Is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame getting ready to ignore its roots? Or is the Hall looking for a new approach in appreciating the founders of rock ‘n’ roll? Industry pundits fear the worst but hope for the best.
On Thursday, Jon Landau — the head of the nominating committee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — emailed an undisclosed number of committee members telling them their services are no longer needed. Sources suggest that as many as 16 of the 42 nominating committee have been given their walking papers. But what’s got some worried is that the move has wiped out more than half of the Hall’s Early Rock and R&B Influencers subcommittee, as at least four of the seven subcommittee members were among those given the heave-ho. They are veteran A&R executive Joe McEwen, a blues and R&B expert; Greg Geller, a label executive specializing in reissues; Arthur Levy, a senior writer at a number of major record labels; and Bob Merlis, one of the industry’s most renowned publicists who is now independent but was at Warner Bros. Records from the early 1970s through the 1990s.
Jann Wenner Answers Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ‘Too Male, Too White, Too Rich’ Critics
“They just got rid of the guys who have all the histories of thousands of artists in their heads,” says one longtime music industry participant. “That’s like letting go the intent of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
The Influencers subcommittee — which still includes Q-Prime principal Cliff Bernstein, Sire Records chairman Seymour Stein and Roots drummer Questlove — are a panel of knowledgeable people who come up with nominees to be considered by the wider nominating committee.
“I just hope that the musicians whose contributions in the past made rock ‘n’ roll the thing that it became are not forgotten,” says one member of the nominating committee who didn’t want to be identified but confirmed he was thanked for his services.
Changing the committee members isn’t unprecedented: In the past, members were let go to make way for new members, say Hall of Fame insiders. But some Hall of Fame watchers worry that this latest move by Landau and Jann Wenner — widely seen as the dominating figures in the Hall — is meant to reduce the focus on the pioneers so that going forward the Hall can focus on artists who came to the fore in the 1980s and soon the 1990s, who might still have more cache with mainstream music fans and HBO, which broadcasts the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s show. “There are still a lot of worthy artists from the 1950s and the 1960s that deserve to be in, but now it looks like their chances are reduced further,” says one industry participant.
The members of the subcommittee either refused to comment or didn’t respond to request for comment. Landau said to call his office Monday and he and Wenner didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail request for comment.
Billboard
https://www.yahoo.com/music/s/rock-roll-hall-fame-dismisses-least-16-nominating-235002396.html
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