Taylor Swift Surprised By Spotify Controversy

Taylor Swift caused quite a bit of controversy when she decided to yank her music from the streaming music service Spotify earlier this year. According to the acclaimed songstress, she had no idea the decision would cause a media firestorm.

Instead of giving Spotify subscribers access to her latest album, 1989, Swift opted to release the collection in a more traditional manner. In other words, if you want to enjoy the fruits of Taylor’s labors, then you’ll need to purchase the whole thing outright. In the age of streaming, this decision was initially met with more than a few raised eyebrows.

Although some believed Taylor Swift was committing career suicide by removing her music from the aforementioned service, 1989 went on to selling upwards of 1.2 million copies during its first week of release. In other words, people are more than willing to pay for music if the artist releases something worthwhile.

Taylor on the cover of @THR & looking fabulous as she breaks all the rules in 2014! More at: http://t.co/shhI4CfEEK pic.twitter.com/XYR3MCbU8Y

— Taylor Nation (@taylornation13) December 17, 2014

Of course, Swift had absolutely no idea that people would freak out about her Spotify-related decision. During a recent chat with the Hollywood Reporter, the pop star admitted that she was more than a little surprised by the ensuing controversy.

“I didn’t think that it would be shocking to anyone. With as many ways as artists are personalizing their musical distribution, it didn’t occur to me that this would be anything that anyone would talk about. But I could never have expected so many text messages, emails, and phone calls from other artists, writers, and producers saying thank you.”

As the Inquisitr previously reported, Spotify wasn’t the only hurdle Taylor Swift had to jump this year. She also had to convince the higher-ups at her label that releasing 1989 was a good idea.

“The biggest challenge this year actually was convincing members of my own team that this was a good call. I’d get called in front of a group of people who have known me and worked with me for years who’d say, ‘Are you sure that you want call the album 1989? We think it’s a weird title. Are you sure you want to put an album cover out that has less than half of your face on it? Are you positive that you want to take a genre that you’ve cemented yourself in and completely switch to a new one that you are a newcomer to?'”

Were you irritated that Taylor Swift decided to remove her music from Spotify? Did you buy a copy of her album 1989?

[Lead image via Fanpop]