Taylor Swift Isn’t Starting Her Own Streaming Service
Reports have suggested that Taylor Swift is looking to launch her own streaming service, after she filed legal documents giving her the right to brand a website "featuring non-downloadable multi-media content in the nature of audio recordings." Well, her team is now denying the claim.
A source close to Taylor tells “Billboard” that she isn’t planning to compete with Spotify or Apple Music with her own service. Instead the “Swifties” website is going to be more of a “personalized fan club app” and feature things like audio, video and live performances, as well as exclusive merchandise and possibly a mobile game.
Ed Sheeran Makes Things Right With Fan
Ed Sheeran doesn’t want fans hating him, especially if he didn’t do anything wrong. In fact, the singer recently reached out to a fan who was furious that a video of her performing a cover of “Castle on the Hill” was pulled from Facebook, although he wasn’t the one who had it pulled.
Charlotte Campbell posted a short snippet of her take on the tune, but the label had it pulled because of licensing issues and she was frozen out of her own account for three days. Charlotte, however, didn’t realize that Ed had nothing to do with the removal and went on YouTube to complain about what happened, and took it out on Ed.
Charlotte said she was “hurt” by what happened, noting, “Ed Sheeran has 15,638,000 followers on Facebook and he’s fretting about 13,000 people hearing a song that he wrote that I credited him for writing. I don’t see the point.” She also added, “Ed Sheeran the brand has totally screwed me. When things get too big, they aren’t human anymore. And they don’t care about individuals.”
Well, Ed was quick to jump to his own defense, and apologized to Charlotte even though he had nothing to do with the song getting pulled. He said, “I bloody love seeing people cover my songs” and explained that it was yanked by a “bot” from his label. He also said that he was personally going to get it all “sorted out.” The real issue is that Facebook hasn't taken any steps to license things like cover videos, where a site like YouTube has.
Regardless, Charlotte gladly accepted Ed’s apology, adding, “Thank you Ed. Ever the gentleman.”
Coldplay, Ed Sheeran And More Join Campaign To End Racism
Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Charli XCX and more are lending their support to a new campaign that hopes to stamp out racism. The “Love Music Hate Racism” campaign is a re-launch of the famous "Rock Against Racism" campaign from the ’70s, and has several big names sharing photos of them wearing T-shirts with the new slogan.
“There is a proud history of musicians standing up to racism," Love Music Hate Racism’s Zak Cochrane says. "LMHR and RAR weren’t just about big bands and big concerts though. They were about musicians and fans uniting in a grass roots movement. We are delighted that these artists are working with us to bring this campaign to life."
He adds, “I hope it will inspire millions of people once more to put on their own gigs and spread the message far and wide that racism only seeks to divide communities, whereas music brings us together. It is in all our interest to love music and hate racism.”