RAIN Notes: October 6, 2025
— A most ambitious ranker / University of St. Andrews
— Core strength / MIDiA Research
— Taylor Swift fails miserably to beat first-day streaming record / Spotify
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Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift’s Reputation album hits streaming service three weeks after release
Taylor Swift’s latest album has landed on all streaming services. The pop singer kept Reputation off streaming services for three weeks after its November 10 release date. At launch, the album was only available by digital download or as a physical copy. Continue Reading
Upcoming Taylor Swift album won’t stream for at least a week after release
Taylor Swift made major waves in the music world in 2014 when she pulled her entire catalog off Spotify and other streaming services with free listening. Now the pop icon is at it again, with a plan to withhold her upcoming album Reputation from streaming services for at least a week after it releases on November 10. Continue Reading
Quick Hits: BBC Radio interview; Pandora CEO interview; a Swift Spotify playlist
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Two BBC Radio execs talk about broadcast and streaming. Pandora’s new CEO chats to Billboard. Taylor Swift is best buds with Spotify now. Continue Reading
Taylor Swift’s catalog returns to all streaming services
It has finally happened. The day that pop fans have dreamt of for almost three years. Taylor Swift has returned to Spotify. Continue Reading
Taylor Swift’s new music video is only on Apple Music
Taylor Swift has released a new music video, but not everyone will be able to watch it. The video for her latest single, “New Romantics,” is an exclusive on Apple Music. It includes footage from her 1989 World Tour, which those who couldn’t attend in person can also experience as an Apple-only experience. Continue Reading
Taylor Swift shills and spills for Apple Music
Taylor and the Cupertino crew have been pretty close since the official launch of Apple Music. The relationship got even more serious today, as she is now appearing in an ad for the streaming platform. Continue Reading
Taylor Swift tour video to be Apple Music exclusive
Taylor Swift has announced that the concert video for her 1989 World Tour is going to be an Apple Music exclusive. The video will be available starting Dec. 20. Swift said she would do an interview about the world tour on Beats 1. Before it even launched, Taylor Swift made perfectly clear that she was going to ally with Apple Music. Continue Reading
Billboard industry survey finds love for Taylor Swift and Apple, not so much for Tidal
Billboard conducted an anonymous survey of music industry leaders, gathering expert opinions on everything from the sector’s business outlook to favorite artists. The business questions also revealed intriguing insights, including a view of which music companies are the industry darlings and which are not. Continue Reading
Interim CEO steps down from Tidal
Tidal has had another changing of the guard, with interim CEO Peter Tonstad leaving the top position. Tonstad was CEO of Aspiro, which was Tidal’s parent company prior to the buyout by Jay-Z. Tonstad stepped in to replace Tidal’s previous CEO Andy Chen, who stayed only two weeks with the company following the change of ownership. Tidal is also in the news today as a tangent to the latest activities of the current queen of the music scene, Taylor Swift. Continue Reading
Taylor Swift gets Apple Music to reverse policy on free trial royalty payments
We recently reported that Taylor Swift’s latest album would not be available through Apple Music. Yesterday, Swift published a Tumblr post explaining why. She questioned Apple’s decision to not pay any royalties to artists, songwriters, or producers for song plays during listeners’ three-month free trials. “These are the echoed sentiments of every artist, writer and producer in my social circles who are afraid to speak up publicly because we admire and respect Apple so much,” she said. Continue Reading
Taylor Swift’s “1989” album won’t be on Apple Music at launch
Taylor Swift made waves in the music industry when she opted to remove her entire catalog from Spotify. She explained at the time that she didn’t want to support “the perception that music has no value and should be free.” So it’s a bit of a surprise to learn that her latest album won’t be available on Apple Music. Both Apple and Swift’s label told BuzzFeed News that her popular “1989” album won’t be available at the launch of the new streaming service. Continue Reading