In a polite, humble, and eloquent Tumblr post this weekend, Taylor Swift asked Apple to change its tune regarding how artists get paid from its new Apple Music service. And, it worked.
Apple originally said it would not be paying artist royalties during users' three-month free trial period of Apple Music. But T-Swift, ever the champion of worthy causes, spoke out against this — not for herself, but for new artists, young songwriters, and pioneering producers who haven't yet had the success (and financial cushion) of five wildly successful albums, like she has. "Three months is a long time to go unpaid," she wrote, "and it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing." Within hours of Swift's post, Apple reversed its stance and announced it would pay artists royalties during the free trial period.
Taylor clearly has the Midas touch when it comes to bending Apple to her will. So hey Tay, can you get Apple to work on a few other things for us?
Quit Charging A Crazy Amount For Chargers
You can grab a third-party Lightning cable for under $10 on Amazon, so why does an Apple brand cable cost double that? And, don't get us started on the $80 MacBook Pro chargers. We've spent an ungodly amount on replacement chargers in our many years as devoted iPhone and Mac users. Considering we pay $650 at minimum for a new phone, or over $1,000 for a new laptop, it would be nice to at least get a few chargers on the cheap. We can't help that our roommate's dog thinks they're chew toys.
The Ability To Delete Stock Apple Apps
Stocks, Game Center, and Newsstand are just wasting space in that tucked-away folder. Can you just let us delete these apps already? Put them in the App Store, like Keynote and GarageBand, and we can re-download them if we change our minds. Make TouchID Work
You know it's happened to you: You press on your iPhone 6's home button and: "Try again." Press again: "Try Again." What is going on? A lot of people have a lot of problems with Touch ID working properly. Taylor Swift, please use your magic to get Apple to whip its fingerprint-sensing technology into shape. It makes us feel like some sort of cyborg when our iDevice quits recognizing our finger. Let Us Set The Default Maps Application
You're checking out a new restaurant on Yelp, and you tap to get directions when, no! The app takes you to Apple Maps by default rather than to your mapping app of choice, Google Maps. It's time users got the option to set their default mapping app; there are multiple great ones out there. While we're at it, we'd love to be able to set our default calendar app, email client, and web browser, too. A Place To Store Files
It's incredibly frustrating that in 2015, there is no local file storage on the iPhone or iPad. Instead, you have to store downloaded files in iCloud or an app like Dropbox or Google Drive. Rather than having to hunt through our email for that one PDF event ticket, we should have a dedicated place on our device for storing files. It could even sync to iCloud! Thanks, Taylor. We know you're busy, but we appreciate you doing us a solid.
You can grab a third-party Lightning cable for under $10 on Amazon, so why does an Apple brand cable cost double that? And, don't get us started on the $80 MacBook Pro chargers. We've spent an ungodly amount on replacement chargers in our many years as devoted iPhone and Mac users. Considering we pay $650 at minimum for a new phone, or over $1,000 for a new laptop, it would be nice to at least get a few chargers on the cheap. We can't help that our roommate's dog thinks they're chew toys.
The Ability To Delete Stock Apple Apps
Stocks, Game Center, and Newsstand are just wasting space in that tucked-away folder. Can you just let us delete these apps already? Put them in the App Store, like Keynote and GarageBand, and we can re-download them if we change our minds. Make TouchID Work
You know it's happened to you: You press on your iPhone 6's home button and: "Try again." Press again: "Try Again." What is going on? A lot of people have a lot of problems with Touch ID working properly. Taylor Swift, please use your magic to get Apple to whip its fingerprint-sensing technology into shape. It makes us feel like some sort of cyborg when our iDevice quits recognizing our finger. Let Us Set The Default Maps Application
You're checking out a new restaurant on Yelp, and you tap to get directions when, no! The app takes you to Apple Maps by default rather than to your mapping app of choice, Google Maps. It's time users got the option to set their default mapping app; there are multiple great ones out there. While we're at it, we'd love to be able to set our default calendar app, email client, and web browser, too. A Place To Store Files
It's incredibly frustrating that in 2015, there is no local file storage on the iPhone or iPad. Instead, you have to store downloaded files in iCloud or an app like Dropbox or Google Drive. Rather than having to hunt through our email for that one PDF event ticket, we should have a dedicated place on our device for storing files. It could even sync to iCloud! Thanks, Taylor. We know you're busy, but we appreciate you doing us a solid.