BREAKING! Artists Will Be Paid During Music's Free Trials, says Apple

After protests from independent labels and musician Taylor Swift, Apple finaly decided that it will pay royalties to music labels and publishers during the three-month free trial of its Apple Music streaming service.

Yesterday morning, Swift wrote an open letter to Apple on Tumblr – To Apple, Love Taylor – complaining about the company’s policy of not paying music owners when people try its upcoming Apple Music service for a three-month trial period.

Confirming Apple's U-turn, its senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, Eddy Cue via his Twitter handle @cue by 4:29 AM today, 22 June 2015 tweeted: "Apple will always make sure that artist are paid #iTunes #AppleMusic"

"#AppleMusic will pay artist for streaming, even during customer’s free trial period"

"We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple"

"Three months is a long time to go unpaid, and it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing," Swift added. Apple has apparently heard the message loud and clear, according to Cue.

Apple Music is the company’s long-anticipated rival to streaming services like Spotify, and is due to launch in more than 100 countries on June 30. While a monthly subscription will cost $9.99, or $14.99 for a family of up to six people, Apple is making its new service free for three months so that people can try it out.