Taylor Swift Victory Over Attempted Intellectual Property Theivery

WSJ explains:

Taylor Swift scored one against Apple Inc. Sunday in a battle over royalty rates and free music streaming, but the real significance of her feat will turn on still-undisclosed details.

Apple, meanwhile, may not be as bruised as it first appears: The money involved is insignificant for the tech giant, and the company’s rapid change of heart may win some goodwill in the entertainment industry.

Apple abruptly reversed course Sunday night, retreating from a plan to not pay royalties to artists when users sign up for a three-month free trial of Apple Music, its subscription service set to debut on June 30.

The switch came soon after the hugely popular singer, in an open letter to Apple, blasted the no-royalty plan as “shocking, disappointing,” adding her voice to a chorus of complaints from artists and producers. “We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation,” she wrote in her blog on Tumblr...

Martin Mills, chairman of Beggars Group, an influential London-based independent music company that has yet to sign a deal with Apple, wrote in a blog post last week: “We struggle to see why rights owners and artists should bear this aspect of Apple’s customer acquisition costs.”