This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Smith chapter.
Taylor Swift has sold 1.3 million copies of her new album, 1989. This number makes 1989 the fastest-selling album since Eminem released his album The Eminem Show 12 years ago.
According to Yahoo music, Swift’s goal was to break world records, and she did just that. She wanted to produce not one, not two, but three albums that would sell one million copies.
Aside from her new album, everyone is talking about Swift’s decision to pull all of her albums from free streaming sites such as Spotify. She feels “that music is changing so quickly, and the landscape of the music industry itself is changing so quickly, that everything new, likes Spotify, all feels to me a bit like a grand experiment.” (Yahoo Music) She wants singers, writers, and anyone else involved in the songwriting process to receive fair compensation.
Swift believes that art has intrinsic value, and when viewing or enjoying art, compensation is a must. “If you create music someday, if you create a painting someday, someone can just walk into a museum, take it off the wall, rip off a corner off it, and it’s theirs now and they don’t have to pay for it.” (Yahoo Music)
Is Taylor Swift subscribing to an archaic model? New technology is moving music toward a free streaming model. Her album sales, impressive as they are, are based upon a dying model and an ideal that a person must pay for music to fully appreciate it.
The CEO of Big Machine Records, Swift’s record label, stated that her move was revolutionary and that the primary reason behind it was to respect “super fans” who wanted to invest in her music.
Although Swift’s decision remains controversial, I commend her for making such a definitive stand for an aspect of the artistic business. I find it refreshing to see a young female celebrity so fiercely unapologetic about her opinions.