[kincardine]

It's not that musicians can complain when they want a bigger cut and get it fixed the next day, it's that unicorn musicians can - like Taylor Swift.

[josefresco]

Apple Gets:

Credit for throwing artists a bone. / Extended publicity for their new music service. / Credit for pleasing TS who has a lot of fans who would also be good customers for Apple

TS Gets:

Publicity / Sales for her new album / Credit for sticking up for artists

Seems like a win-win for both parties. I doubt the revenue lost would have been significant. Anyone have numbers?

[kincardine]

Oh, absolutely. This is freebie PR for everyone involved.

What I meant to imply is that the PR is only valuable because it is a musician with the brand value (and public presence) of Taylor Swift.

And, what I mean by that is that if smaller brand musicians complained (as I think would have been inevitable) nothing would change until a larger brand also complained (which would also have been inevitable).

[d_theorist]

It seems like you're assuming this was reactive?

Seems far more likely that this exchange was orchestrated between Apple and TS.

[sliverstorm]

Yup, that's the key. She is literally a rock star. (well, pop/country)

App developers don't have a millionth of the star power.