Taylor Swift has become the latest artist to remove all of her music from streaming service Spotify.
The singer, who has just released new album 1989, made no comment on the move but has taken all of her previous albums down, leaving only track Safe And Sound from the Hunger Games soundtrack.
The Shake It Off star has been vocal in the past about her belief that music should not be available for free and it is understood that this is the motive behind the removal of her back catalogue.
“Piracy, file sharing and streaming have shrunk the numbers of paid album sales drastically, and every artist has handled this blow differently. It’s my opinion that music should not be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will someday decide what an album’s price point is. I hope they don’t underestimate themselves or undervalue their art,” she previously wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
Swift’s album 1989 has never been available on Spotify, while her previous release Red was uploaded long after it was available in traditional forms.
Spotify has released a statement addressing the removal, calling on the singer to “change her mind and join us in building a new music economy that works for everyone”.
“We love Taylor Swift, and our more than 40 million users love her even more – nearly 16 million of them have played her songs in the last 30 days, and she’s on over 19 million playlists. 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. That’s why we pay nearly 70 per cent of our revenue back to the music community,” said a spokesperson.
“PS – Taylor, we were both young when we first saw you, but now there’s more than 40 million of us who want you to stay, stay, stay. It’s a love story, baby, just say, Yes.”
