Taylor Swift revealed today, her 26th birthday, via Twitter that an exclusive 1989 World Tour documentary will hit Apple Music on Dec. 20. The special is exclusive to Apple Music subscribers and is an example of the kind of exclusive content that Apple wants to bring in for its Music service. It won’t be available for purchase though other channels, at least not initially. The concert will include a number of big artists, as well. A trailer for the documentary can be seen below.
Filmed in front of 76,000 fans during her stop at ANZ Stadium in Sydney on Nov. 28, it will show the entire performance and never-before-seen footage from backstage and from rehearsals with some of the musical and surprise guests. The 1989 World Tour started back in May and ended yesterday.
Directed by Jonas Akerlund, the film features performances from guests Mick Jagger, Justin Timberlake, Lorde, The Weeknd, Alison Krauss, Mary J Blige, Selena Gomez, John Legend, Fetty Wap, Steven Tyler and Miranda Lambert and many more (including celebrity guests Ellen DeGeneres, Serena Williams, Lena Dunham, Kendall Jenner, Julia Roberts, Chris Rock, the U.S. women’s soccer team, and Kobe Bryant).
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhttBMZT5zw]
Swift and Apple music have quite a short history. Following the revelation that Apple wouldn’t pay artists for the 3 month free trial period, Swift penned an open letter to Apple saying that it wasn’t fair. Apple SVP Eddie Cue responded with a Tweet noting Apple would change its policy. Swift then released 1989 exclusively on Apple Music which Apple was able to capitalize on.
We went behind the scenes with the whole affair a few months ago. Later Jimmy Iovine revealed how Taylor changed Apple Music’s revenue model.
Tomorrow, Swift will share more about the documentary in an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s Beats 1 radio.
“I think I’d be leaving a huge part out if I didn’t mention the blog post that I wrote . I think that is probably the starting point because I didn’t have a personal relationship with Apple until that point,” Swift said in an interview with Zane Lowe of Apple Music’s Beats 1 Radio (the interview airs Monday at noon Eastern). “I’m sure there are better ways to introduce yourself than to say, ‘This is what I’m upset about, please think about our industry.’ It got more attention than I thought it would because I’d been echoing those sentiments for years.”
“And then I was struck with this overwhelming sense of fear. Like, are they going to turn my phone off? Are they going to turn the video camera on? Are they watching me right now? Am I going to wake up tomorrow and all of my music will be off of iTunes?” she said. “Like absolute terror hit.”
[tweet https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/676085322061512704 align=’center’]
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
She is no idiot, just the opposite Swift is one of the smartest business people in the music industry. Continued success to her and her company.
I was never really a fan but Ms. Swift and her music has grown on me (“Shake It Off” and “Bad Blood” are my guilty pleasures). If anything I’m happy for Apple Music getting a big exclusive like this even if it means fans only sign up for one month just to see this concert.
Hopefully other artists will follow suit in order to boost Apple Music’s appeal.