苹果因泰勒·斯威夫特改变音乐版税政策

When Taylor Swift speaks, even the most powerfulcompany in the world listens.

泰勒·斯威夫特(Taylor Swift)发表意见的时候，甚至连世界上最强大的公司都会倾听。

Less than 24 hours after Ms. Swift complainedpublicly that Apple was not planning to pay royaltiesduring a three-month trial period of its newstreaming music service, the company changedcourse, and confirmed that it will pay its full royaltyrates for music during the free trial.

斯威夫特公开抱怨称，苹果公司(Apple)不会在其新流媒体音乐服务为期三个月的试用期间支付版税。之后还不到24小时，苹果就改弦更张，确认公司将在免费试用期间全额支付音乐版税。

“When I woke up this morning and read Taylor’s note, it really solidified that we need to make achange, Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services, said in aninterview late Sunday.

苹果的互联网软件与服务负责人艾迪·库伊(Eddy Cue)周日晚些时候接受采访时表示，我早晨醒来后看到了泰勒发的博文，这真的坚定了一个想法，那就是我们需要做出改变。

In a letter posted Sunday morning to her Tumblr page, called “To Apple, Love Taylor, Ms. Swiftaddressed a situation that had begun to send shock waves through the music industry: Apple,which has announced a subscription streaming service to compete with Spotify, Rhapsodyand Deezer, was not going to pay royalties during the trial period.

周日早晨，斯威夫特在博客网站Tumblr发表题为《致苹果公司，来自泰勒的心声》(To Apple, Love Taylor)的公开信，提出了一个问题，这个问题已经开始在音乐界引起轩然大波：苹果宣布提供流媒体订阅服务，与Spotify、Rhapsody和Deezer展开竞争，但苹果在试用期间不会支付版费。

Ms. Swift, who last year pulled her music from Spotify in another dispute over royalties, calledApple’s policy “shocking, disappointing and completely unlike this historically progressivecompany.

斯威夫特去年因为另一场有关版税的争端，将自己的歌曲从Spotify撤出。斯威夫特称，苹果公司的政策“令人震惊、失望，完全不像这个一直以来不断向前发展的公司。

“We don’t ask you for free iPhones, she added. “Please don’t ask us to provide you with ourmusic for no compensation.

“我们没有要求获得免费的iPhone，她还表示。“请不要要求我们免费提供音乐。

Ms. Swift had framed her letter as an explanation for why she was withholding her latestalbum, “1989, from Apple’s new service. But she said that she was also speaking for othermusicians who were afraid to speak up about the issue, and her comments found wide supportin the music world. On Twitter, Elvis Costello called Ms. Swift’s note “a note from our futurePresident.

斯威夫特通过这封公开信解释了，她为何暂时停止通过苹果的新服务来发布自己的最新专辑《1989》。她还表示，她的话也代表了那些敢怒而不敢言的音乐人。她的评论在音乐界获得了广泛支持。埃尔维斯·科斯泰洛(Elvis Costello)在Twitter上表示，这是“来自我们未来总统的信件。

Apple’s new service, called Apple Music, is set to become available worldwide on June 30.Besides its longstanding iTunes download store, it will include a $10 streaming subscriptionplan, a free Internet radio station and a media platform that will let artists upload songs,videos and other content for fans. Unlike Spotify, which lets customers listen free or paymonthly fees to eliminate ads, Apple’s subscription feature will have no permanent free level.

苹果原定于6月30日在全世界范围内提供新服务Apple Music。除了早就推出的iTunes下载商店，苹果还将推出售价10美元(约合62元人民币)的流媒体订阅服务套餐，一个免费的网络电台和一个媒体平台，艺术家可以通过这个平台上传歌曲、视频及其他内容供粉丝使用。Spotify为用户提供免费音乐服务，或每月收取一定的屏蔽广告的费用。但与Spotify不同，苹果的订阅服务没有永久免费的选择。

Apple’s arrival in streaming music has been much anticipated by the music industry, but itsplan not to pay royalties during its trial period drew complaints from independent musicgroups around the world, saying that the company’s terms were unfair.

苹果进军流媒体音乐领域的举动在音乐界备受瞩目，但试用期间不支付版税的计划在世界各地的没有关联的音乐团体中引发不满，他们抱怨称苹果公司的条款是不公平的。

But the criticism from Ms. Swift — perhaps the biggest star in pop today — was a damagingpublic-relations misstep for Apple on the eve of its big new product release.

来自斯威夫特的批评是该公司推出其重要新产品前遭遇的颇具破坏性的公关失误，因为她可能算是当今流行乐坛影响最大的明星。

Mr. Cue, the Apple executive in charge of iTunes and Apple’s new music service, said that hehad spoken to Ms. Swift on Sunday. “I did let her know that we heard her concerns and madethe change, he said.

负责iTunes和新音乐服务的苹果高管库伊表示，他周日与斯威夫特进行了交谈。他说，“我告诉她我们注意到了她提出的问题，并做出了改变。

Early Monday, after Apple’s change was announced, Ms. Swift tweeted:

周一早些时候，在苹果宣布做出改变之后，斯威夫特在Twitter发帖称:

Mr. Cue said the company’s original plan was to pay a slightly higher royalty rate — at least71.5 percent of the money it collects from sales, as opposed to the industry standard of about70 percent — in exchange for the free trial.

库伊称，苹果公司最初的计划是，作为试用期间免费的交换，会按照较高的版税率——至少是销售额的71.5%，而业界标准为接近70%——支付费用。

But many record executives, particularly at small labels where margins are thin, had described afrightening scenario in which income from important new albums that came out during the freeperiod would not only lose out on crucial download income, but also get nothing from Apple’snew streaming feature.

但很多唱片公司高管，特别是那些利润较薄的小公司的高管，描述了一个可怕的场景，在免费试用期间推出的重要新专辑不仅会失去关键的下载收入，也不会从苹果的流媒体音乐服务中获利。

Mr. Cue said that Apple will now pay royalties to both record companies and music publishersfor the use of music during the trial period. He declined to specify how much money thatmight cost the company, which is the biggest retailer of music.

库伊表示，苹果公司现在会在服务试用期间向唱片公司及音乐出版商支付版税。他拒绝详细说明苹果此举的成本会有多大。该公司目前是全球最大的音乐零售商。

Ms. Swift has long been outspoken on economic issues for musicians. In a piece in The WallStreet Journal last year, she wrote: “Valuable things should be paid for. It’s my opinion thatmusic should not be free.

斯威夫特很早就在经济问题上直言不讳地为音乐人发声。她去年在《华尔街日报》(Wall Street Journal)发表文章称，“有价值的东西需要付费才能得到。我认为音乐不应该是免费的。“