Taylor Swift makes amends with Apple to offer exclusive 1989 deal

14 Dec 2015

It seems time, and a bucketload of money, heals all wounds for Taylor Swift, as she has announced that her upcoming concert film of her 1989 World Tour is to be an Apple Music exclusive.

The decision for Taylor Swift to reach a deal with Apple would appear somewhat surprising given that in June this year the pair were involved in a falling out over royalties due to artists for plays on Apple Music.

Apple had originally made it clear that artists were not to be paid during the three-month Apple Music trial period, but Swift’s influence over the music industry, and her stance against Apple, saw the tech giant initiate a rare turnaround, announcing it was to pay artists.

And now, according to Re/code, all the Bad Blood is gone between the two, with Swift believed to have signed a multi-pronged deal to offer content exclusively to Apple Music, starting with a concert film of her 1989 World Tour, which will be released on 20 December.

Along with the exclusive access Apple Music users will get with the deal, all of the very, very lucrative rights to her branding will fall under Apple Music, so expect to see Swift plastered over anything Apple Music related, or just Apple related, for that matter.

As for Swift, there has been nothing else said by the singer since her social media posts confirming the deal, but it is expected that a significant amount of money has been transferred to her and her music reps, Universal Music Group, and her label, Big Machine.

Based off what is known about the deal, this agreement is entirely separate to Swift’s previous decision to put her 1989 studio album on Apple Music.

Taylor Swift image via Shutterstock

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

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