Taylor Swift's streaming music earns $400K in first 12 days back
Swift's music returned on June 8 to the streaming services she left in 2014 and has already earned her nearly half a million dollars.
Taylor Swift has waded back into the stream.
Ending a years-long streaming boycott, Taylor Swift returned her back catalog to streaming services like Spotify, Pandora, Tidal and Amazon on June 8. The result? According to Billboard, the songs earned $412,000 in the first 12 days.
Swift left most streaming platforms in 2014 over royalty rates for streaming songs. The disagreement centered on Spotify's ad-based rates (which paid artists $.0009 per stream) versus premium rates (which paid $.0063). The artist pulled all five of her older albums from all streaming platforms as a result, with the exception of subscription-only Apple Music .
Nearly three years later, Swift has shaken off the dispute, and all parties seem to be profiting as a result.
The reversal may be due to the changing rates for Spotify (which now offers $.0015 per ad-based stream). But as Billboard notes, it is likely also due to the fact that sales of Swift's older albums are no longer in direct competition with free streaming. Those sales have tapered off. And while streaming may not be as lucrative for a new album as online sales, it certainly has been profitable at this stage in older albums' lifespans.