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Taylor Swift Returns to Streaming Services, Reigniting Feud with Katy Perry

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“I’m over the moon.” — Taylor Swift fan Katy Southwell, 20

Almost three years after indefinitely taking her entire music catalogue off of all streaming services and then going off the radar, Taylor Swift is back but with no new content, just major marketing moves and a pretty big gift for her fans. Swift famously got into very public fights with Spotify and Apple Music in 2014 and 2015, respectively, after expressing her desire to remove her music from all streaming sites, stating her dissatisfaction with how artists were treated and unfairly paid through Apple Music. Swift later struck a deal with Apple Music to have her music exclusively on the service, racking in a large sum of money.

Now, she’s done it again, by releasing her entire discography back onto Pandora, iHeartRadio, PlayMusic, Tidal, Google Play Music, Amazon Music and Spotify Music at 12 a.m. Friday, June 9.

Social media went crazy. Her music began to trend on the iTunes and Billboard charts again, and her years-long feud with fellow pop superstar Katy Perry has just had new life breathed into it.

The reason why? It was not lost on anyone the timing of Swift’s re-releases, which happened the very same night Perry released her fifth studio album, “Witness.”  VOX Media Cafe reporters headed to Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta on Friday afternoon to get feedback from people about Swift’s return, the impact it’ll have on the music industry, and if it was an intentional move to undermine Katy Perry. Katie Southwell, 20,  said, she was “over the moon,” and her friend Will Brock, 21, exclaimed that he was “thrilled.”

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On her feud with fellow popstar Katy Perry, Toni Payne, 22, from Birmingham said, “There’s a lot of competition in the music industry.”

Cedric Genwright, 23, said it was a “business move.”

On Swift’s influence on other streaming artists, Grace Carter, 15,  who was visiting Atlanta from Florida stated, “It will definitely inspire artists to do the same thing.”

Regardless of the reason for putting her music back on streaming sites, it is evident Swift has a very tight grip on almost every aspect of the music industry, and it doesn’t seem to be loosening any time soon. Whether a very smart business move, a gift to her fans for buying 100 million units of her music, or a game plan to take down Perry, one thing’s for certain: Taylor Swift is arguably the queen of the music industry.

Above Photo: VOX Media Cafe reporters interviewing Taylor Swift fans in Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta Friday afternoon.

Sian Stephens, 17, is a student at Campbell High School in Smyrna. Nyah Peebles, 16, a student at North Springs Charter High School in Sandy Springs. Amina Farlow, 13, is a student at Brighten Academy Charter School in Douglasville.

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