Taylor Swift is taking on YouTube, and it won’t be an easy fight

Swift’s protest over Apple Music royalties pushed the tech giant into an unlikely U-turn, but the latest battle against YouTube is one she’s unlikely to win

When Apple announced its plans to offer customers a three-month trial of its Apple Music streaming service, Taylor Swift kicked off. The free trial meant no royalties for artists, and Tay-Tay wrote an open letter describing the terms as “shocking” and “disappointing” – and revealed she’d be withholding her music from the platform. Her tens of millions of fans magnified her protest and the tech giant made a rapid and uncharacteristic U-turn.

Now Swift and other music artists are publicly taking on YouTube, calling for better protections against copyright infringement and better pay for artists. But this time she’s unlikely to win.

Related: Taylor Swift's label boss reveals more details of Apple Music negotiations

If YouTube has disputed claims the company can continue to have this really big body of music