Taylor Swift was surprised at industry’s reaction to her decision to leave Spotify

Singer says she's been inundated with messages of gratitude

Taylor Swift has revealed she was surprised at the industry’s reaction to her decision to leave Spotify, stating: “it didn’t occur to me that this would be anything that anyone would talk about.”

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the singer said that she’s been receiving messages of gratitude from other artists, writers and producers thanking her for her decision. “I didn’t think that it would be shocking to anyone. With as many ways as artists are personalising their musical distribution, it didn’t occur to me that this would be anything that anyone would talk about,” Swift said. “But I could never have expected so many text messages, emails and phone calls from other artists, writers and producers saying thank you.”

Taylor Swift’s fifth studio album, ‘1989’, sold 1.3 million copies in its first week of sale in the US, the biggest single-week number in 12 years. The star’s decision not to stream the album on Spotify, as well as to remove all of her previous releases from the streaming service, sparked a huge debate over royalties in the digital age.

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Spotify begged Swift to return in a lengthy blog post asking for her help in “building a new music economy that works for everyone”. “We believe fans should be able to listen to music wherever and whenever they want, and that artists have an absolute right to be paid for their work and protected from piracy,” they said. “That’s why we pay nearly 70% of our revenue back to the music community.”

Swift later said of her decision: “Music is changing so quickly, and the landscape of the music industry itself is changing so quickly that everything new, like Spotify, all feels to me a bit like a grand experiment. I’m not willing to contribute my life’s work to an experiment that I don’t feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists and creators of this music.”

A spokesperson for Spotify declined the opportunity to respond to Swift’s comments.

Swift recently announced a trio of UK live dates as part of her ‘1989’ world tour.

Taylor Swift will play:

Glasgow SSE Hydro Arena (June 23)
Manchester Phones 4U Arena (24)
London British Summer Time Hyde Park (27)

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To check the availability of Taylor Swift tickets and get all the latest listings, head to NME.COM/tickets.

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