http://time.com/3931008/apple-taylor-swift-pandora/

"Pandora’s former Chief Technology Officer Tom Conrad took to Twitter Monday to address what’s become a very public spat between Apple and pop superstar Taylor Swift over the Cupertino company’s new music streaming service.

Over the weekend, Swift wrote that she will not be making her newest album, “1989,” available on Apple Music. Swift’s decision came amid Apple’s refusal to pay musicians for any streams during a three-month free trial period for users (Apple Music has no free tier after that three-month period; it costs $9.99 a month afterwards). While Swift acknowledged her financial success means she can afford to miss out on that revenue, she argued that newer artists just starting out will be missing out on income they’ve rightfully earned.

Just hours after Swift’s post went live, Apple reversed course, with the company’s SVP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue announcing the about-face on Twitter.

But Conrad isn’t buying any of it. He argues that the most popular music streaming services, like Pandora, YouTube, and Spotify, all pay artists when users listen to their music through free tiers or trials.

Tom Conrad ‏@tconrad 8h8 hours ago
1/ Spotify, YouTube, Pandora and others all pay artists for their free tiers and trials. It's the right thing to do.

Tom Conrad
‏@tconrad
2/ Swift took her new album off Spotify not because she's not paid, but because she feels their free service "devalues music"

Tom Conrad @tconrad
3/ Swift never pulled from YouTube which is the most popular free service and certainly devalues music if Spotify does.

Tom Conrad ‏@tconrad 8h8 hours ago
4/ Swift's career was built on terrestrial radio play, which is a free service AND doesn't pay recording artists a dime.

Tom Conrad ‏@tconrad 8h8 hours ago
5/ Apple isn't getting rid of its long free trial, but is now going to pay artists. This simply puts it at parity with all other players.

Tom Conrad ‏@tconrad 8h8 hours ago
6/ Reminder: Apple uses music to make billions off hardware. Artists see nothing from this.

Tom Conrad ‏@tconrad 8h8 hours ago
7/ Swift's letter and Apple's response is mostly theater. Nothing here to suggest Apple treats artists more fairly than anyone else.

https://twitter.com/tconrad/status/613037827668836353
https://twitter.com/tconrad/status/613037878889680896
https://twitter.com/tconrad/status/613037924611850241
https://twitter.com/tconrad/status/613038036880744448
https://twitter.com/tconrad/status/613038095999500288
https://twitter.com/tconrad/status/613038198575333376
https://twitter.com/tconrad/status/613038287029014528

welp, how much did apple pay taylor?

Told you Taylor's marketing team is the best and smartest

The CLOCKS

I don't get what was exposed?

Obviously. I can't believe people are falling for this.

I mean, even Apple gets free promo for their brand new streaming service and even gets made out to look like a good guy by changing its policies to benefit the poor struggling artists for free for three months, all out of the goodness of its (calculated, stone cold) heart.

This was obviously planned for ages. Am genuinely not understanding how Taylor's press team pulls these contrived stunts every month and you guys fall for it every time. Like, how many of you are still waiting to hear back from that Nigerian prince?

Seems like Taylor likes her music companies just like her men... in bed with her.

Me either. Barring his accusation of it being a publicity stunt, his other tweets aren't related to this situation at all.

Nice

and what exactly would a former pandora exec know about any of this?

not you bolding the whole article

Well, if the former CEO of a competitor's service says so, then