Taylor Swift just dumped Spotify, and the music streaming service is having a real tough time letting her go.
Swift, who is on track to sell over 1 million copies of her album 1989 in its first week of release, has removed all her albums from Spotify. Every. Single. One. So not only did she cut out the music streaming service from accessing her brand-new album, but she just up and "yoinked" every last song that was available to listeners.
And Spotify is absolutely crushed, which is no surprise since according to the letter the company wrote to Swift begging her to come back, 16 million of the 40 million subscribers have played her song in the last month and she's on over 19 million playlists.
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
"We hope she'll change her mind and join us in building a new music economy that works for everyone," Spotify wrote. "We believe fans should be able to listen to music wherever and whenever they want, and that artists have an absolute right to be paid for their work and protected from piracy. That's why we pay nearly 70% of our revenue back to the music community."
But Spotify's final line of the letter is the kicker, as they used her song titles to beg her to come back:
"PS – 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."
And in a move equivalent to raising a boom box above their head in the front yard of Taylor's house, Spotify posted a playlist called "Come Back, Taylor!" with song titles that when read in order, say this:
"Hey, Taylor. We wanted to play your amazing love songs and they're not here right now. We want you want with us and so do (do do) your fans."
This is a playlist by @SpotifyCares begging @taylorswift13 to come back. https://t.co/ZW0gsrFoCt pic.twitter.com/d5QrzrQshU
? Kim Bhasin (@KimBhasin) November 3, 2014
Taylor herself recently blamed streaming services as one of the reasons album sales have been so low in recent years in her op-ed piece she wrote for the Wall Street Journal:
In my opinion, the value of an album is, and will continue to be, based on the amount of heart and soul an artist has bled into a body of work, and the financial value that artists (and their labels) place on their music when it goes out into the marketplace. Piracy, file sharing and streaming have shrunk the numbers of paid album sales drastically, and every artist has handled this blow differently.
On one hand, Taylor should have a say in how her music is distributed, and it's a widely known fact that artists do not get as much money from a service like Spotify in comparison to a service like iTunes where you pay to download the songs/albums. This could be Taylor's way of trying to make the change she wants to see in the music industry, as noted in her op-ed piece.
On the other hand, Swift fans are quite hurt over her decision to pull her music from Spotify, with some going as far as to call the move greedy. And we all know how much Taylor's fans mean to her, so will this drastic action hurt her reputation amongst her people?
Another reason why @taylorswift13 is awful: removed her albums from spotify bc artists don't get paid enough from there. #LOL #greed
? Vicki D. (@vicki_dee) November 3, 2014
You've disappeared from Spotify @taylorswift13 WTH?! You could have at least let them have your first single
? Lola (@SocietyMisfit) November 3, 2014
Tay Tay why you no like spotify ?????? @taylorswift13
? ØliviaCheyene (@WithTheOneN) November 3, 2014
@Spotify @taylorswift13 but her album is platinum already...#greed
? Samuel Todd (@stoddmurphy) November 3, 2014
@taylorswift13 please put your old music back on @Spotify this is ridiculous. They've already been out for years and you still get money.
? Rebekah Marie (@scoobereli92) November 3, 2014
This is the worst. @taylorswift13 has pulled all her music from @Spotify! Be sound and put it back on. Please. #justsayyes
? Eden McLaughlin (@edenmcl) November 3, 2014
Taylor's label, Big Machine Records, has not yet commented on the removal of her music. You can still listen to her songs on streaming services such as Google Play, iTunes, Pandora and Rdio.
What say you guys? Greedy move on Taylor's part or no?