the streaming wars

Taylor Swift Reportedly Won’t Put Her New Album on Streaming for a Week

Look what she’s done again. Photo: ChinaFotoPress/VCG via Getty Images

With just days to go until Taylor Swift’s new album, it’s now become clear whether or not fans will be able to stream it right away. Bad news: You’ll have to pony up for it. Bloomberg reports that Swift intends to keep Reputation off streaming for at least one week following its release on November 10, though it may turn out to be longer than that as negotiations with services are said to be ongoing. (Recent albums from Frank Ocean and Chance the Rapper were paywalled as two-week Apple Music exclusives, while Adele didn’t put 25 on streaming for months.)

On the bright side, it appears to be a much shorter holdout than her previous album: Swift withheld 1989 from all streaming services for eight months to protest artists not being fairly compensated for streaming royalties. Taylor eventually caved and put the album on Apple Music, and then just this past June returned all her music to Spotify, offering that service 1989 for the first time. With Reputation, Swift has streamed all four of its singles so far on all platforms — though she reportedly hasn’t cared much about promoting them on Spotify — but it appears Christmas has stopped coming early.

Taylor Swift Might Not Stream Reputation for One Week