That brings us to the continuation of her slams against Spotify. The ‘fight’ with Apple – resolved within hours – was a chance to burnish an increasingly false outsider status. Taylor Swift and her very relatable friends who are just like you and me. While she still manifests her pop persona as one of the bullied and beleaguered, she’s a multi-millionaire with celebrity friends, stomping down the corridors of Fame High, shoving Katy Perry into the lockers and snapping selfies with supermodels. It’s rare that Taylor Swift gets to be the ‘David’ in a ‘David and Goliath’ clash these days. The behind-the-scenes tale of Taylor’s letter to Apple is designed to sound like a tenacious teen taking on a titan, with just her mother to back her up, rather than a shrewd businesswoman taking advantage of a clear opportunity to gain commercial and publicity benefits. There’s no mention of business people, managers, or her label, in which she has a significant stake. It’s Swift defining herself as a straight-talker, inspired by injustice metered out to her friends, rather than her own self-interest, a superhero for the streaming age. The bare bones of the retelling are no doubt true, but the way in which they’re presented is very carefully done. I might not post it, but I had to say it.’ I just said, ‘I’m really scared of this letter, but I had to write it. I read the term ‘zero percent compensation to rights holder.’ Sometimes I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and I’ll write a song and I can’t sleep until I finish it, and it was like that with the letter. The contracts had just gone out to my friends, and one of them sent me a screenshot of one of them. When Swift outlines the ‘story’ behind her composing the now famous letter to Apple, which seemingly acted as a catalyst for the company to shift its stance on royalty payments to artists during the three-month free trial, I’m not entirely convinced by the narrative. There’s Taylor Swift: the woman, about whom we actually know a lot less than you might think – despite the outwardly confessional lyrics and miles and miles of column inches dedicated to her – and Taylor Swift: the brand, Taylor Swift: the corporation, for which the flesh and blood human is an avatar, acting as a vehicle for all kinds of ‘on brand’ activity.
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