Taylor Swift defends music industry in The Wall Street Journal essay

Taylor Swift has turned writer for The Wall Street Journal by penning an article defending the music industry.

In honor of the newspaper's 125th anniversary on Tuesday (08Jul14), the Love Story hitmaker was commissioned to pen an essay for a section called The Future of Everything.

In her article, the 24 year old offers her opinion on the state of modern music, dismissing fears that declining sales and increased piracy have sounded the death knell for the industry.

She writes, "(I'm) one of the few living souls in the music industry who still believes that the music industry is not dying... it's just coming alive.

"There are many (many) people who predict the downfall of music sales and the irrelevancy of the album as an economic entity. I am not one of them. In my opinion, the value of an album is, and will continue to be, based on the amount of heart and soul an artist has bled into a body of work... Piracy, file sharing and streaming have shrunk the numbers of paid album sales drastically, and every artist has handled this blow differently.

"In recent years, you've probably read the articles about major recording artists who have decided to practically give their music away, for this promotion or that exclusive deal. My hope for the future, not just in the music industry, but in every young girl I meet... is that they all realize their worth and ask for it."

Swift argues that music fans consume differently than they did 20 years ago, detailing the success of her recent record-breaking Red concert tour and the rise of YouTube.com.