Like I said elsewhere, certain world leaders need to work on getting Taylor Swift on the payroll as a consultant, because if you've got a regime change project on the slate, or a bombing campaign or some other bullshit policy that's equally controversial and divisive, it's clear T-Swizzy is pretty much the go-to girl if it's a positive spin you're after. Get her on your side and you can probably go ahead and ethnic-cleanse anywhere you damn well want, or frack away to your heart's content, secure in the knowledge that Swiftimus Caesar has publicly given you the thumbs up via the voguish medium of the open letter.
The first thing that struck me about this story was the absence of all that "bwahaha who gives a shit about rich pop stars LOL" chatter you saw surrounding the (re)launch of TIDAL. Suddenly it's OK to be concerned about whether or not a streaming service leaves its principal content providers arse-out, or for people who make their living at the sharp end of the recorded music industry to express public concern over the broader inequities of the game. It's no longer an issue precisely how wealthy Taylor Swift is, or even if she deigns to give with one hand whilst
taking away with the other - it's the selfless (yet very visible) "Nice Girl" gesture of altruism that's important here (although I get more of a Regina George vibe from her than a Cady Heron one - "Stop trying to make No Royalties happen!"). Taylor Swift thinks - nay, [em]believes in her heart[/em] - that you, we and all the tech-bro corps the music industry continues to sell itself out to should spare a thought for the little guy, not the people who've already made it, and if she has to bring Apple to its knees in the process...well, gosh darn it, I guess that's the way it's gonna haveta be.
Obviously, she's not expecting [em]you[/em] to put [em]your[/em] money where your mouth is and underwrite Apple's brave new venture in the form of a subscription, because, y'know, torrents. I mean, why would you, right? Speaking of people acting purely out of the goodness of their hearts, I presume there's nothing out there about the ongoing investigation in the US that Apple had tried to collude with labels to strongarm Spotify into abandoning their free tier (which isn't terribly popular with artists anyway, but still...)? That wouldn't really do for a company trying to position itself as the good-guy opposite to Spotify, which of course doesn't pay anyone anything at all and is owned by the big, bad Old music biz rather than the shiny new #content biz. Luckily for them, possibly the world's biggest popstar's on hand to very theatrically "force" them into a very public u-turn. I guess few know nor care that Anton Newcombe (amongst others) was banging on about Apple's tactics just the other week. But just like you don't launch your new streaming service with a press conference featuring Immortal Technique, Barbara Mandrell, Keke Wyatt and dude from Neutral Milk Hotel, you don't mount an assault on the techie sharp practices that dominate the business nowadays with just the frontman of Brian Jonestown Massacre at the vanguard. Not if you want people to write - or more accurately, gush - about it.