[Swordmaker]

Apple says that the artists are going to be paid during the 90 day demo period. . . some take this as being a "caving in" but it actually looks as if it was their original intent policy because Eddie Cue stated that "Apple will always make sure that artist are paid,” not that they have changed the policy which was that Apple would be paying artist on a 70/30 split—with Apple taking the short end—of all revenue generated by the Apple Streaming Radio system on play counts, a far better return to artists than what is paid by the other systems. All of this kerfuffle was based on rumors about the first three month free period and the potential that there would be no revenues during that period and the demand from some artists that they get their usual full rates while the offerings may not be generating full revenues yet, even though listeners could start buying subscriptions from day one, which is REVENUE which they WILL be sharing!

Apple has NEVER stiffed the artists, creative talents, programers, or authors of the content the iTunes and App Stores sells, having passed on over $30 BILLION in revenues to developers, authors, and artists. Why should Apple start "stiffing them" now? SHEESH! — PING!

Apple Streaming Music
Ping!

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[IncPen]

I, for one, will never believe that this wasn't cooked up by Swift's management and Apple's marketing department well in advance.

Because I remember the time Karl Rove got some nobody to create a controversial ad criticizing a candidate Rove opposed, and run it one time on a podunk cable station in the middle of the night (after 'tipping off' the local Dems). The ad got hundreds of plays on local and national news (for free) as outraged liberals bleated about it, before disappearing down the rabbit hole.

The point is that these are sophisticated marketing plays, designed to generate conversation and brand awareness (Swift: cocky and confident, David v. Goliath; Apple: innovative, reasonable, flexible, artist-friendly).

It's not mistake in any way, shape or form.

_{It is equally funny to see the haters take the bait on this...}