Taylor Swift yanks all music from Spotify as new album drops

Taylor Swift yanks all music from Spotify as new album drops

The singer has come out against streaming services in the past, and is hoping to protect sales of her album.

Singer Taylor Swift pulledĀ all of her music from streaming service Spotify shortly after the release of her new album, expected to be a blockbuster hit.

Although singers like Beyonce and Coldplay have also delayed releasing albums to Spotify in order to give retailers exclusive access to selling their music, Swift’s move to pull all music from Spotify is unusual, and could rankle fans who use the service ahead of her upcoming world tour set to begin in Louisiana in May, according to Reuters.

The request came last week from Swift’s record label, Big Machine, according to a Spotify spokesman.

In July, Swift had slammed file sharing and streaming in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, claiming the practice had severly shrunk paid album sales. Declaring the “music is art, and art is important and rare,” she said that it is “my opinion that music should not be free.”

Spotify said in a blog post that it was disappointed with the decision and hoped she will change her mind and help build “a new music economy that works for everyone.”

Over 19 million playlists on Spotify include Swift’s music, out of more than 40 million users.

Swift’s album, 1989 — referencing her year of birth — was released Oct. 27, and analysts expect it to overshoot the 1 million mark in the United States once official figures drop on Wednesday. While Spotify hadn’t been able to stream 1989 before the announcement, it was able to stream the No. 1 hit “Shake It Off” from it.

Big Machine wouldn’t say why it asked for Swift’s albums to be pulled.

With album sales on the decline, media giants like Amazon.com and Apple have taken an interest in streaming services like Spotify and Pandora, but those who produce albums like Swift have taken the opposite approach, seeking to protect declining sales.

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