If you read the title and have no idea what we're talking about, stop everything and read these articles:
After all this controversy and Apple changing its strategy, following not only the changes “required” by singer Taylor Swift but throughout the music industry as a whole, Swift had not yet positioned himself whether he would make himself available or not his new album on Apple Music. For she has now done this:
https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/614092816940167168
After this week's events, I decided to put 1989 (album) on Apple Music and I'm happy for that.
The singer who was not the only one responsible for Apple's change of strategy, but without a doubt the main exponent seems to be happy with the outcome of the situation and to make her newest album (titled 1989) available on the service since its launch, on the 30th of June.
Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of software and internet services, welcomed Swift:
See you on #AppleMusic on June 30th! https://t.co/ajNnMV6TNA
– Eddy Cue (@cue) June 25, 2015
See you on Apple Music on 6/30.
It is worth noting that, unlike the new release of Pharrell Williams (which will be exclusive to Apple Music), Swift did not make any agreement similar to Apple.
https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/614093248961847296
In case you're wondering if this is some kind of exclusive deal that you saw Apple making with other artists, no.
https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/614093540902195200
This is simply the first time that I felt good enough to do streaming of my album. Thank you, Apple, for your change of opinion.
She just felt comfortable enough with the terms of the service to the point of making her entire catalog available on it at least for now, the singer's music remains outside of one of Apple Music's main competitors, Spotify.
One of the few points that was still unclear in this story was the value of royalties that Apple would pass along during the service testing period. Because according to the New York Times which basically talks about all the behind the scenes of these negotiations between Apple and the music industry as a whole for Apple Music, the company will pay 0.2 cents a dollar for music played during the service testing period, a value similar to what others Free music services pass on to record companies.
It is worth noting that this amount does not include a lower payment for writers and rights holders. According to Billboard, Apple would still be negotiating with many distributors on these terms, but everything indicates that the value is around 0.047 cents a dollar. Thus, each song played on Apple Music during the trial “It would cost the company” 0.247 cents a dollar.
The amount, yes, is much less than what the company will pass on when users are paying the service subscription, but it is in line with the transfers from streams free and seems to have pleased everyone involved.
(via MacRumors: 1, 2)
