Taylor Swift Regaining Ownership of Her Music
Taylor Swift confirmed that Scooter Braun, a record executive and manager for many prominent musicians, sold the rights to Taylor Swift's first six albums, which contained major successes including "We Are Never Getting Back Together" and "Shake It Off.” According to reports, Braun sold Taylor's album recordings to an investment fund worth more than $300 million in November 2020. Taylor stated on Twitter that this was the "second time [her] music had been sold without [her] knowledge." Swift has accused Braun of attempting to "dismantle" her music legacy by acting without informing the artist and focusing on benefiting from Taylor's music. Taylor Swift owned 33.0 percent of her recordings outright, while the record label owned 67.0 percent.
Back in 2004, Taylor Swift signed a deal with Big Machine Records, granting the label ownership of her master recordings for her first six albums in exchange for a cash advance to help her launch her career. Having the ownership of master recordings means that you are able to control what can be done with the original recording of a song or albums, such as making it available for use on streaming platforms and re-releasing the songs. Other than that, owners of popular songs can make a lot of money.
Taylor Swift received many supports from other artists back in 2019 when Scooter Braun owned all of her old recordings, such as Kelly Clarkson’s tweet referring to her “@taylorswift13 just a thought, U should go in & re-record all the songs that U don’t own the masters on exactly how U did them but put brand new art & some kind of incentive so fans will no longer buy the old versions. I’d buy all of the new versions just to prove a point” on 14th July 2019 and Halsey’s tweet on 1st July 2019 (in picture). And from all of her fans and other fellow artists underneath the hashtag #WeStandWithTaylor.”
Taylor’s process in regaining ownership of her music started eversince. Taylor had started re-recording her older music in order to regain control of her life's work, which she described as an "exciting and musically satisfying" process. Taylor is able to revisit and offer a renewed perspective with matured vocals while maintaining the original sound that fans have grown to recognize and appreciate via the re-recordings. Swift's legal struggle with Big Machine Records throws light on the weak methods of making money. Taylor has highlighted the necessity for record labels to be more honest when signing musicians, as master recordings must be explicitly described as to who owns them. It is an inherent right for artists to own their music. Taylor's re-recordings aren't just about making money; they're also about having complete ownership of the music she's poured her heart and soul into.
On November 12, 2021, Taylor released 'Red (Taylor's Version),' which are re-recordings of her previous songs. It is a re-recording of Swift's fourth studio album, Red (2012), following her first re-recorded album, Fearless (Taylor's Version), which was released in April 2021. The re-recording venture is Swift's countermeasure against the changed ownership of the masters to her first six studio albums. The album Red (Taylor’s Version) has already logged the largest sales week of the year for any album. Taylor has, yet again, broken the record for the largest sales week for a vinyl album in the modern era.
Sources:
[1]: What Taylor Swift’s Re-recordings Symbolize For Music Ownership [New University - UC Irvine]
[2]: Taylor Swift master tapes sold by Scooter Braun to investment fund [BBC News]
[3]: Taylor Swift’s ‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’ Surpasses Half-Million Units In First Five Days In U.S. [Billboard Pro]
[4]: Why Taylor Swift is rerecording her songs[CNN News]