Taylor Swift ‘1989’ Backlash: Album Kept Off Spotify, Fans Furious

Taylor Swift’s new album, 1989, has been met with hugely positive reviews by critics and listeners alike, but a backlash to the record has begun after it wasn’t put up on Spotify in order to try and increase record sales.

Spotify have now responded to the uproar, which began after Rebecca Black posed the question on her Twitter page. The “Friday” singer clearly wanted to hear Swift’s new record and was apoplectic when on Monday morning she logged into her Spotify account and found that it wasn’t there. She then took to her social media page to demand answers for its omission.

WHY ISNT 1989 ON SPOTIFY????????

— Rebecca Black (@MsRebeccaBlack) October 27, 2014

Mashable then contacted a member of Spotify and asked them why Swift’s hugely anticipated album had been kept off their platform. And it turns out that Swift herself was the one who requested that it only be available to purchase from digital stores like iTunes and Amazon rather than streaming sites like Pandora or Spotify.

“Due to a decision by the artist, Taylor Swift’s new album 1989 is not available on Spotify or any other streaming music service. There are over 40 million music fans on Spotify and Taylor Swift has nearly 2 million active followers on [Spotify] who will be disappointed by this decision. We are working to bring this album to fans on Spotify as soon as possible.”

A member of Taylor Swift’s team hasn’t yet responded to this statement. However it isn’t surprising that she withheld 1989 from Spotify for the time being. While various new and emerging artists make their music available on streaming websites in order to get their songs heard by as many people as possible the biggest artists in the world usually wait. This is because they already have an established fan-base that are eager to hear their new tracks and are willing to spend $13 in order to hear them.

Swift used this strategy for her previous album, Red. Back in 2012 it took Swift’s hugely popular album several months to finally appear on Spotify, but this meant that in its first week it went on to sell 1.21 million copies.

However Taylor Swift’s fans reacted to its Spotify absence furiously, taking to Twitter to vent their frustration.

The sooner Taylor Swift’s new album is on Spotify, the happier I’ll be.

— Mark Morrison (@Mark_Morrison10) October 30, 2014

TAYLOR SWIFT’S NEW ALBUM ISNT ON SPOTIFY WHAT KIND OF LIFE IS THIS

— Duke of the Trap (@FMCervantez) October 30, 2014

Taylor Swift’s album 1989 is not on Spotify. That really sounds like 1989

— Arthus Nicolas (@arthusandnico) October 28, 2014

[Image via Edge Cast]