Taylor Swift Just Brought A $730 Billion Company To Its Knees One Blog Post | Celebrity Net Worth 2026

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Yesterday, multi-platinum selling musician Taylor Swift posted an open letter to Apple on Tumblr, stating that she was pulling her record breaking '1989' album from the Apple Music service as a result of their refusal to pay royalties for any music streamed on the service. Said Swift: "I find it to be shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company." Swift continued by saying that she found the plan "unfair," because Apple has the money to be able to cover the cost of royalties.

The 25-year-old singer went on to say: "Three months is a long time to go unpaid and it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing… It's not too late to change this policy and change the minds of those in the music industry who will be deeply and gravely affected by this. We don't ask you for free iPhones. Please don't ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation."

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In response to Swift's open letter, Apple says that they will now pay artists for music streamed on the Apple Music service. Apple executive Eddy Cue tweeted the following late last night: "We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple."

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In an interview following Apple's decision to pay artists royalties, Cue said: "When I woke up this morning and I saw Taylor's note that she had written, it really solidified that we needed to make a change." In another interview, Cue stated that Apple had been hearing concerns from indie artists about not getting paid during the trial period, but stated that "we never looked at it as not paying them." Instead, he explained, "we had originally negotiated these deals based on paying them a higher royalty rate on an ongoing basis to compensate for this brief time."

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But now, thanks to Ms. Swift, the company will pay artists during the trial period and keep the royalty rate at the higher rate.

Cue said that he spoke to Taylor following Apple's decision and said that she was "thrilled and very thankful." Swift herself tweeted out after Apple's decision: "I am elated and relieved. Thank you for your words of support today. They listened to us."

I guess this whole situation just goes to show you: You don't mess with T. Swift.