Taylor Swift has finally returned to Spotify and Pandora, three years after pulling out her music from streaming services.
The decision by Swift, whose work was only previously available on Apple Music, signals what could be the start of change for artists who have refused to allow their music on streaming services.
Taylor Swift Back On Spotify And Pandora
After rumors surfaced that Swift was planning to restore her catalog of music on streaming services, the singer's management team confirmed the move through a tweet.
According to the Taylor Nation account, all five Swift albums will be returning to all streaming services at the stroke of midnight on June 9. The decision was made to celebrate Swift's latest album, 1989, reaching more than 10 million units sold and to thank her fans for their support.
Swift's music is now available on Amazon Music Unlimited, Amazon Prime Music, Tidal, and other streaming services, in addition to Pandora Premium and Spotify. Swift's music is back on both the free add-supported version of Spotify and its paid tiers.
Taylor Swift vs. Music Streaming Services
The feud between Swift and streaming services started in 2014, when the singer decided to remove all of her music from Spotify.
"It's my opinion that music should not be free," Swift said, as she claimed that streaming services fueled the rise of illegal downloads of music and negatively affected album purchases.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek claimed that Swift would be able to earn $6 million on the music streaming service, but her team refuted it. They said that Swift only earned less than $500,000 over 12 months of domestic streaming.
It is not clear what changed with Swift's relationships with Spotify and other music streaming services since then. Perhaps the singer changed her mind on what such services offer, as beyond the revenue, they also provide the chance to convert users to fans. The landscape of the music industry may have also shifted considerably over the past three years, and as Swift prepares to launch a new album, she may want as many fans as possible listening to her work.
Swift is probably the biggest star in the music industry to shun music streaming services. Her return to Spotify, Pandora, and the other services, however, may have wide implications, as it signals that holdouts are now starting to understand streaming as one of the most important facets of music marketing in the modern age. Spotify now has 50 million paid subscribers, which may be too big of a number to ignore.
Taylor Swift vs. Katy Perry?
Swift's decision to bring back all her music on streaming services, however, has another angle beyond simply changing her mind on the much-publicized rift.
The return of Swift's music on all streaming services at the midnight of June 9 also happened to be the launch time of arch-rival Katy Perry's latest album, Witness. Fans may give Swift the benefit of the doubt that she simply forgot that the exact date and time was also Perry's planned release date for Witness, but we might never know for sure.
