The "Shake It Off" singer is shaking off Spotify, removing all her songs and albums from the popular music streaming platform just days after Spotify publicly criticized the 26-year-old artist for not immediately making her latest album,1989, available to stream.
SEE ALSO: Why isn't Taylor Swift's '1989' on Spotify? We've solved the mystery
Spotify had told Mashable on Wednesday that1989 wasn't available on Spotify because of "a decision by the artist." A spokesman added that "Taylor Swift has nearly 2 million active followers on [Spotify] who will be disappointed by this decision."
It appears Swift's camp didn't like the public finger-pointing and reacted on Monday by removing her four previous studio albums.
"We love Taylor Swift, and our more than 40 million users love her even more — nearly 16 million of them have played her songs in the last 30 days, and she’s on over 19 million playlists," Spotify said in a statement Monday. "We hope she’ll change her mind and join us in building a new music economy that works for everyone. We believe fans should be able to listen to music wherever and whenever they want, and that artists have an absolute right to be paid for their work and protected from piracy. That’s why we pay nearly 70% of our revenue back to the music community."
After 1989 was released on Oct. 27, many began searching phrases like "Why isn't 1989 on Spotify?" Fans wanted a free taste of Swift's newest project.
Swift's previous album, Red, in 2012 didn't appear on Spotify until months after its release date. It went on to sell 1.21 million in its first week.
"Music is art, and art is important and rare. Important, rare things are valuable. Valuable things should be paid for," Swift said earlier this year to The Wall Street Journal. "It's my opinion that music should not be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will someday decide what an album's price point is. I hope they don't underestimate themselves or undervalue their art."
While most artists want their new music to be available to stream immediately in order to spur album sales, big guns like Coldplay, Adele, Beyoncé and Swift often wait before unleashing their albums on platforms without buy buttons. They can afford to so.
Swift's camp is following the same let's-sell-albums-first strategy for 1989, which would become the first 2014 album to achieve the milestone if it goes platinum on Nov. 5 (the Recording Industry Association of America's million-copies-sold certification).
Spotify is taking Swift's music removal in stride, playfully twisting her lyrics to inform users: "Taylor, we were both young when we first saw you, but now there’s more than 40 million of us who want you to stay, stay, stay. It’s a love story, baby, just say, Yes."
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