Taylor Swift's New Romantics video, released overnight on Wednesday, might just be the most cynical release in the history of popular music (yes, it's a big call). But it might also be a rare instance of a misstep for the flawless pop princess, whose usually devoted fans are already expressing their dismay on social media.

What rankles is not just the fact that New Romantics is the seventh – yes, seventh – single released from the 18-month-old album 1989. It's that Tay-Tay has pitched the video – a compendium of highlights from her 18-month-long global tour in support of 1989 – as a gift to the fans who mean so much to her, while ensuring those fans can only see it in its first week of release by signing up to subscription streaming service Apple Music (from April 13, they'll be able to see it elsewhere too, but what true fan can bear to wait that long?).

The best people in life are free, Swift sings in the song, but her music – and now even her music videos – certainly aren't.

Though hailed uncritically by an array of entertainment media including MTV, Entertainment Weekly and Just Jared, the video release is in truth a move by one of the world's biggest recording artists to try to shift the power balance in streaming from market leader Spotify to Apple's rival platform, launched in June 2015. And at least some fans have clearly seen it that way.