All of the Taylor Swift songs have gone missing from Spotify after the release of the singer’s latest album 1989 . This could hurt her music sales, but the “I Knew You Were Trouble” singer apparently did it for a reason.
That reason has nothing to do with Swift’s romantic woes, which have fueled many a joke about her tendency to write about her ex-boyfriends. The recently released “Shake it Off” was her scathing retort about fans and tabloids who love to run with that fact, including lines such as “I go on too many dates,” and “haters gonna hate.”
Swift told the press last week 1989 reflects her belief that people are still buying her music to listen to it.
“Well I truly believe in the album. I understand that the industry’s changing and a lot of people are streaming. However, there are a lot of people who aren’t, which is what this release reflects.
“Piracy, file sharing and streaming have shrunk the numbers of paid album sales drastically, and every artist has handled this blow differently. It’s my opinion that music should not be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will someday decide what an album’s price point is. I hope they don’t underestimate themselves or undervalue their art.”
Unfortunately, streaming services like Spotify, Pandora, and Google Play Music are how many fans discover new material, and now her fans are going to have to search and pay to hear more than a few seconds of Taylor Swift songs, like Amazon Music tends to do. The only song left on Spotify is the one she performed for The Hunger Games soundtrack.
Spotify said in a statement on Monday that they hope the singer will eventually allow Taylor Swift songs to be heard through their streaming service again.
“We hope she’ll change her mind and join us in building a new music economy that works for everyone. We believe fans should be able to listen to music wherever and whenever they want.
“P.S. Taylor, we were both young when we first saw you, but now there’s more than 40 million of us who want you to stay, stay, stay. It’s a love story, baby, just say, Yes.”
It may be doubtful that Swift’s fan base would drop off that quickly, but it may certainly hurt future sales from new listeners who use streaming services to decide what to buy. Not hearing Taylor Swift songs any more, they might not hear enough to convince them to buy the latest album .
We <3 @taylorswift13 but she asked us to pull her music off Spotify. 40MM of us say “Stay Stay Stay.” http://t.co/lOGMo4qTB7 #justsayyes
— Spotify (@Spotify) November 3, 2014
Spotify has done something unusual to attempt to win Taylor Swift back into their service, creating a playlist with song tracks spelling out a message just for her, entitled “Come Back, Taylor!”
- “Hey” Red Hot Chili Peppers
- “Taylor” Jack Johnson
- “We Wanted to Play” Pinhead Society
- “Your Amazing” Epic Connection
- “Love Songs” DJ Dodger Stadium
- “And” The Telescopes
- “They’re Not” Utenzil
- “Here Right Now” Original Cast Recording
Spotify’s clever playlist might not win the Taylor Swift songs back on their service, but if she sees it, she might get a chuckle out of it.
[Image via Kobby Dagan / Shutterstock.com ]