Malcolm Owen
Taylor Swift fans could be signing up to Apple TV+ in the future, with Apple's streaming service in the running to host the singer's "The Eras Tour" film.
The film of "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" arrived at AMC Theaters on October 12, giving the singer's fans the chance to experience a version of the highly-successful tour.
There are terms in the AMC Theater deal that allows the film to appear on streaming platforms after 13 weeks, reports Fast Company. In all likelihood, that means a streaming service could air the movie starting on January 12, 2024.
However, there hasn't yet been any word on which streaming outlet will be showing the film at that time.
The report notes that Apple TV+ is among the top candidates to host the Swift tour film, alongside Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney Plus.
Apple has history with Taylor Swift
Apple has a few advantages over its rivals when it comes to music-related content, and for Swift in particular. With Apple offering video streaming and Apple Music, the combination could be alluring since neither Netflix nor Disney operate a giant music platform like Apple does.
Swift has previously butted heads with Apple over royalties, complaining in 2015 about a plan to withhold royalties during trial periods. This apparently showed Swift had sway with Apple's executives, since the company backtracked on the plan.
Apple Music then went on to host the "1989 World Tour" concert video, complete with extensive holiday season promotion. This took place years before the introduction of Apple TV+ as a video streaming service in its own right.
While Apple does have its advantages, the other three offer their own to Swift, in various ways.
Netflix is the biggest platform of the group, and has streamed both the "Reputation Stadium Tour" film and the Swift documentary "Miss Americana." For Disney Plus, Swift's "Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions" documentary film was shown, and her first feature film directorial debut is to be distributed by the Disney-owned Searchlight Pictures.
Amazon Prime Video rounds out the group, with Swift headlining an Amazon Prime Day concert in 2019. There are also ample opportunities for Amazon to cross-promote Swift on its retail channels.
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I dunno. Billie Eilish jumped ship to Disney+. The Beatles have a long history with Apple and they went there too. I think Swift will go to a bigger platform for more exposure and especially more $$$.
I think it sucks. Apple is the greatest music platform of all in streaming and video. They should own this space.
Taylor Swift and Apple's relationship has gone back a long ways. If memory serves correctly she was one of the first big stars to adopt Mastered for iTunes mastering (which debuted in 2012).
It's important to note that her 2015 dispute about music royalties was a philosophical stance: she strongly believes that artists should get paid. Her efforts resulted in better payouts for independent artists. She bluntly admitted that she didn't need the money herself, she was doing it for the others.
Taylor holds the negotiation advantage as the content creator. She can go for exclusivity to one service or distribute on multiple services (at once or staggered over time). She already flipped the script with the Eras Tour film by not hooking up with a studio. Her team negotiated directly with AMC, leaving studios out of the deal. There's always the promise of more content from Taylor in the future: a full-length feature film in the works, more albums, more tours, etc.
Most of the Beatles' relationship with Apple was very, Very, VERY contentious. The Beatles label (Apple) sued Apple from using the trademark and an uneasy truce emerged. The relationship strained again when Apple got into the music business (with the iPod and iTunes Store). Today one can find Beatles discography on Apple Music but the label did not embrace Apple (they were longtime famous holdouts). The Beatles are there because Apple's eventual dominance as the online digital music storefront.
YouTube has broader reach as a streaming music platform these days although Apple's monetization is undoubtedly better at this time.
That said, change is constant even for companies like Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, Netflix, etc. All the major streaming players are capable of serving the film stream.
It's really a business negotiation at this point. She's a much savvier businesswoman in 2023 than she was in 2013 and evidently she is very skilled when it comes to building partnerships.
Apple and Taylor Swift are like two small nations negotiating a trade deal at this point.