Eddy Cue Caves

@cue: Apple will always make sure that artist are paid #iTunes #AppleMusic

@cue: #AppleMusic will pay artist for streaming, even during customer's free trial period

@cue: We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple

I don't know who to credit more, Eddy Cue or Taylor Swift.

Eddy responded immediately, on a Sunday, proving, once again, if you don't show up on Saturday, don't even THINK about showing up on Sunday! Thank you Jeffrey Katzenberg, you too are pivoting, albeit not as fast as Eddy Cue. And that's just the point, admit your mistakes and move on. He who digs in his heels is wrong. So Eddy gets props here.

But the truth is Taylor Swift just demonstrated the power of audience. An indie artist selling out clubs could say the same thing and have no effect. And the way Taylor Swift garnered that audience was through music. Her original tunes, sung straight from the heart, such that she bonded millions of people to her, who believe in her the way they believe in nobody else, take that Apple.

That's the power of music. That's the way it used to be done. That's why we revere the sixties. That's why the Grateful Dead can sell out stadiums fifty years on.

Or to quote the bard of the Hollywood Hills, "we haven't had that spirit here since 1969."

Notice Cue weighed in. It wasn't Jimmy Iovine. Who comes from the silent wall of the music business. Just try to get Doug Morris or Lucian Grainge to go on the record. As for Warner, it's faceless, to its detriment. But instead of standing up for artists, Morris and Grainge stood up for themselves, with their old buddy Jimmy. They have egg on their faces. Cue backed down, can Doug and Lucian? Of course not, they won't even admit guilt! But they started this thing. And isn't it interesting that the world's best records come from Martin Mills and his indie Beggars Group. The majors are a machine that excises art, that don't stand for anything so much as making money. Which is why artists must do it for themselves.

I don't know what went through Taylor Swift's mind. Notice, she didn't weigh in immediately, this indie/nonpayment for three months story has been percolating for a week. But once she digested the issues she said her piece. In other words, you don't have to shoot from the hip. But if you're waiting for every fact to come in, to test the wind to see what public opinion is, if you're more worried about your career than what's right, you're limited.

Come on, this is a bigger hit than anything on "1989." Taylor Swift just took on the biggest company in the world and WON!

So let her effort be a beacon. Let other artists fall into step. And stop being so afraid. There's plenty of money in music, Taylor Swift is making millions on the road, never mind her endorsement deals. And it's the tunes that are greasing the skids. The tour used to be the ad for the album, now it's vice versa. Taylor's album is on a downward trend, it's past its peak, it's not she who's suffering here, but...

Think of the Tidal artists. They could have done it for everybody else, but the truth is they wanted to line their own pockets.

So, kudos to Taylor Swift.

And applause for Apple. Because admitting when you're wrong is nearly as important as being right.

Onward and upward.

P.S. People will forget Apple didn't want to pay, but they'll always remember Taylor Swift standing up to the company. Apple nipped the problem in the bud, the longer you let the negativity fester, the longer the stink holds. But the truth is efforts like Taylor Swift's are career-defining moments of credibility that are trumpeted for eons, they're what cements artists' careers. It's not only hits, it's identity. Records come and go, people remain. If you stand for something, you're the hook that catches the velcro loop, and we're all loops waiting to be caught.


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