Taylor: Swift Boat or Love Boat

Last week was a convenient window for Taylor Swift haters to come out. She pulled her songs from Spotify and now has the only debut album of 2014 to go platinum in one week. This decision received both praise and criticism. Is she a music creator advocate or a savvy business woman? Perhaps she is both.

There are those who say she wanted to reach a sales goal. (If you can't stream it, and you want to hear it, you have to buy it.) For some fans, this was a bit of an inconvenience and burned a negligible hole in their allowance. But let's be real. The same could be said if they went to the movies and had to buy a ticket.

Others say it was all for publicity; that boycotting the under-compensating streaming service will gain her kudos, respect, (leading to even more fans) and make her the darling of the news cycle. Well, all I have to say is if that's the case, at least she isn't dancing on a pole, tweeting topless selfies or driving intoxicated on the PCH in order to trigger a surge in record sales which is often the result of (or reward for) bad behavior these days. She pulled her songs from Spotify. Good girl. Even if she did let them have their way with her first single in order to get the party started. Maybe what us non-superstars need are more Big Machines like Taylor spreading the word that music has (or should have) value. Hail to the messenger.

Hearing myself say this is terrifying. I never thought I'd be defending Taylor Swift. Find out the reasons why she is the girl I (used to) love to hate in my recent HuffPo piece.