Taylor Swift Pulls Her Music From Spotify…Should Indie Musicians Follow Suit?

You’ve likely already heard that Taylor Swift sold more albums in its debut week than any other artist in 12 years.  She has proven that she can get a million people to pay for her album, but its important that you know that this can no longer be considered the norm.

Music Sales data has shown an increase in streaming services.  Generally, people aren’t paying for albums much anymore, but since the trend is moving to streaming services, why would Taylor pull her entire music catalog from Spotify?

Swift defended her decision as a matter of principle in an interview with Yahoo! News , saying she sees Spotify as a “grand experiment” in which she has no interest in participating until the service compensates artists fairly.

“All I can say is that 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,” Swift said. “And 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.”

This strategy may work for an artist like Taylor Swift who is extremely popular, but as an indie musician with a smaller fanbase, you should really think twice before even considering pulling your music from a streaming service like Spotify.   Although there is work to be done on creating fair streaming royalties, the data and music trends are showing that fans are choosing to stream music (over buying albums), so don’t lose sight of this as you decide your strategy for increasing your music sales.