10-time GRAMMY winner Taylor Swift and 13-time GRAMMY nominee Katy Perry have certainly given us an interesting Friday.
For Perry at least, today's publicity has been a gradual build. Following a blistering performance of "Chained To The Rhythm," the lead single from her new album Witness, at the 59th GRAMMY Awards, the song climbed to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Perry followed up with additional singles showcasing majorly top-tier talent collaborators Migos and Nicki Minaj, respectively featured on Perry's tracks "Bon Apetit" and "Swish, Swish."
The stage seemed set for today — the official release date for Perry's fifth studio album, Witness — to be the California Gurl's day as the belle of the ball.
Did you miss Katy Perry's "Chained To The Rhythm" at the 59th GRAMMYs?
Team Taylor Swift, however, just may have preempted today's press buzz, and all with an unexpected Instagram post:
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="7" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BVGMtjZA18r/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">In celebration of 1989 selling over 10 Million Albums Worldwide and the RIAA's 100 Million Song Certification announcement, Taylor wants to thank her fans by making her entire back catalog available to all streaming services tonight at midnight.</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by Taylor Nation (@taylornation) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2017-06-08T23:22:03+00:00">Jun 8, 2017 at 4:22pm PDT</time></p></div></blockquote><script async defer src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script>
Almost three years to the day from publishing her now-famous op-ed in The Wall Street Journal that claimed that "music should not be free," then removing her music from all streaming services a few months later, Swift has re-released her entire back catalog, including her Album Of The Year-winning LPs Speak Now and 1989, to Spotify, Tidal, Amazon and other major streaming platforms.
Swift's prior decision to pull her music from streaming services was debated by many, but at its core was a heartfelt attempt to leverage her industry clout for the betterment of the music community, a sentiment The Recording Academy champions year-round through its ongoing support of pro-creator legislation such as the Fair Play Fair Pay Act.
Perhaps then it is mere coincidence that Swift's landmark album reached a major milestone just a week after a Spotify settled a precedent-setting lawsuit. And perhaps it was just a perfect storm of positive publicity too good to pass up that left Team Swift no choice but to release her full back catalog of music to her legions of fans — many of whom have never had the chance to stream Swift's music on their application of choice — on the same day that Perry's Witness was set to drop.
Anything is possible, right?
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