Apple will pay artists for streaming their songs during Apple Music free trial after all

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Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue put an end Sunday night to several days of controversy by saying that Apple will pay artist for streaming their songs during the customer’s free trial period of its new Apple Music service.

In a series of tweets representing a change of stance for the company, Cue clarified that Apple will always make sure that artists are paid.

Up until today, the company had seen a backlash from indie artists and other music industry representatives for not paying artists during the three-month free trial period of its upcoming streaming service.

Until now, the company’s reasoning behind its move was that it is paying a slightly higher fee than industry average per streamed song after the trial period is over in order to make it up for that extended trial period. That didn’t play right with many artists who believed Apple wanted to promote its new service by taking advantage of musicians.

The movement really gained traction when pop artist Taylor Swift published an open letter in which she basically claimed that artists, big and small, don’t want to work for free, something completely understandable. Although her back catalogue is going to be available on Apple Music, her new album will not.

The unusual course reversal for Apple comes in an even more unusual way. One would have expected a press release, or maybe more appropriately an open letter to explain its new position. But I guess in 2015 tweets are good enough.

Regardless of the medium, it’s the message that is important. Apple has listened and changed its stance, something that can only be good for the music industry.

Now I’m curious to see whether this will be enough for Taylor Swift to make her latest album available on Apple Music.

Apple Music will be available in over 100 countries on June 30th, along with iOS 8.4. It will feature a streaming service, a live radio station, and a social network for artists to connect with their fans.