Taylor Swift will now be on Apple Music, after royalties challenge

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Taylor SwiftImage source, Getty Images

The ongoing debate between Apple and Taylor Swift is now resolved after she announced her album will appear on the tech giant's new streaming service.

Earlier this week she challenged Apple over the fact they weren't planning to pay royalties to artists during Apple Music's three-month trial period.

After seeing her open letter, external, Apple backed down and will now pay artists during the initial trial.

Swift's album, 1989, is not currently available on any streaming services.

Swift tweeted: "After the events of this week, I've decided to put 1989 on Apple Music...and happily so.", external

She added: "In case you're wondering if this is some exclusive deal like you've seen Apple do with other artists, it's not.", external

In her original letter she had said that "three months is a long time to go unpaid" and said it was "unfair" to expect people to work for nothing.

"I say this with love, reverence, and admiration for everything else Apple has done... I think this could be the platform that gets it [music streaming] right," she added.

Apple Music, which launches on 30 June, will allow users to stream the company's vast catalogue of singles and albums and is set to cost $9.99 (£6.30) per month in the US for one person or $14.99 (£9.50) for families.

The company says it plans to pay 73% of the music subscription revenue to music owners.

Image source, PA

Apple executive Eddy Cue said the firm had already planned to pay artists a higher rate after the trail period was over to compensate for the first three months of free service given to customers.

They had already been been hearing "a lot of concern from indie artists about not getting paid during the three-month trial period" before Swift spoke out.

But he said "we never looked at it as not paying them".

Swift tweeted: "This is simply the first time it's felt right in my gut to stream my album. Thank you, Apple, for your change of heart.", external

Last year she removed her entire back catalogue from Spotify, saying the business had "shrunk the numbers of paid album sales drastically".

Now the only Swift tracks on the streaming service are from compilation albums.

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