Three months is a long time to go unpaid, and it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing. I say this with love, reverence, and admiration for everything else Apple has done. I hope that soon I can join them in the progression towards a streaming model that seems fair to those who create this music. I think this could be the platform that gets it right.
- via Taylor Swift

I completely agree with Ms. Swift on this point. As a consumer, I ‘m happy that I’m going to get 3 months of free streaming music (saving my wife and I $45 over that time), but I do completely understand that this is kind of a raw deal for artists. Artists are already criminally underpaid for their streaming rights, and to knock that number down to zero is not good. Yes, Spotify, Rdio, Tidal, Rhapsody, Google Play Music, and all the rest will still pay out to artists during this 3 month span, but Apple Music is going to steal people (like me) away from those paid services for a few months and I would expect artists to receive slightly less for that time span than they’re used to.

The good news here is that Apple Music also leads you stream songs you have bought from the iTunes Music Store, so if you’re one of the many millions of people who bought 1989 that way, you’ll be able to stream the record. And if you haven’t bought it yet, just get it now. It’s a pretty damn great pop album.