Shake it Off star Taylor Swift has denied rumors that she has signed up for You Tube’s new Music Key service, after veteran left-wing rocker Billy Bragg accused her of misleading her fans and engaging in “corporate power play” earlier this week. Swift, whose new album 1989 has sold over one million copies since being released a few weeks ago, says that she has not been in discussions with YouTube owners Google after her music was removed from Spotify. Swift had previously said she didn’t think Spotify were offering a fair deal for musicians and that she wanted to challenge the perception that music should be free.
Bragg said that rumors Swift had signed up with Google “undermined” her stance on Spotify. He said that Google had been attempting to “strong-arm” musicians on independent labels into accepting low rates. A spokesperson for Swift claimed that “Taylor Swift has had absolutely no discussion or agreement of any kind with Google’s new music streaming service”.
Meanwhile, Bragg today used his Facebook fan page to defend Spotify, a service on which he has been releasing a monthly “talking playlist”. The singer-songwriter says he receives no fee for doing this, but praised the streaming service for being more transparent than the soon-to-be-launched rival service. “…All deals and negotiations with Google are covered by non-disclosure agreements. We won’t know how many plays we’ve had on Music Key, nor how much Google paid our labels for that use – we’ll just have to take whatever we receive and be thankful… That’s why I often find myself defending Spotify – for all their faults, they have set the bar high in terms of transparency and we should be demanding the same from other streaming services.”
So, which side are you on? Are Swift and Spotify ever getting back together? Let us know what you think below.