NY fine, but music site gets Swift kick

On Welcome to New York, her latest hit single, Taylor Swift sings with wide-eyed enthusiasm about the experience of being a youthful, aspirational newcomer to the Big Apple.

"The lights are so bright," she notes, a not entirely novel observation, "but they never blind me."

The average 24-year-old might indeed be dazzled on first arriving in the brilliant glare of the big city, but not so Swift, who has recently become one of Lorde's best pals.

She has been a recording artist for a decade, has won seven Grammy Awards and has just sold almost 1.3 million copies of her new album 1989 in a week.

That represents the biggest seven days of sales for any LP since 2002.

Swift is one of a handful of musicians in the world who could shut down Hollywood Boulevard to traffic during rush hour - which she did last month, so that she could perform to a crowd of some 15,000 fans on Jimmy Kimmel's late-night talk show.

She is also one of very few artists with the clout to yank their entire back catalogue confidently from Spotify, which she did last week.

"Music is changing so quickly, and the landscape of the music industry is changing quickly, that everything new, like Spotify, all feels a bit like a grand experiment," said Swift, whose debut album was released the same year Spotify was founded.

"I don't agree with perpetuating the perception that music has no value and should be free."

- Independent