Given Taylor Swift's renowned lyrics and talent, her ultimate goal was to own her music. One would assume, “You write it, you own it,” but that is far from the case for many artists. The process of owning music is arduous and often unattainable for artists. Despite the challenges Swift knew she would encounter, she fiercely advocated for her goal. 

Swift signed a contract with Big Machine Records at fifteen years old in 2005. Before the contract expired in 2018, Swift produced six albums: Self Titled (2006), Fearless (2008), Speak Now (2010), Red (2012), 1989 (2014), and Reputation (2017). As the contract expiration was approaching, Swift made it very clear that she wanted to purchase the rights to her masters. Swift owned the musical composition copyright since she wrote every song lyric. But like most artists, Swift did not own the recorded sound- her masters.

Swift maintains that when she asked Scott Borchetta, CEO of Big Machine Records to purchase her masters, he refused. Swift states that Borchetta is “someone for whom the term ‘loyalty’ is clearly just a contractual concept.” Following the repeated refusals from Borchetta, Swift decided to switch record companies in November 2018. She moved to UMG’s Republic Records where she negotiated to own the master rights of anything she created with UMG. 

In 2019, Big Machine Records was sold to a private equity company, Ithaca Holdings. Ithaca Holdings was managed by Scooter Braun who famously managed Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and Kanye West. When Swift heard the news, she was livid. Swift stated that Scooter Braun was an “incessant, manipulative bully” who now owned her masters, valued at 300 million dollars. With this sale, Braun obtained the rights to her masters, music videos, and artwork copyrighted by Big Machine Records- including Swift’s six albums. 

Braun’s ownership gave him the authority to dictate where Swift could promote, distribute, and perform her music. In 2019, Swift came out with a statement claiming that Braun would not allow her to perform a medley of her older music at the American Music Awards because "they [Ithaca Holdings] claim that would be re-recording my music before I'm allowed to next year." Along with performances, Swift stated, "Netflix has created a documentary about my life for the past few years. Scott and Scooter have declined the use of my older music or performance footage for this project, even though there is no mention of either of them or Big Machine Records anywhere in the film."

Fighting to own masters has been a major conflict in the music industry. Musicians like The Beatles, Prince, Paul Simon, and many more have strongly advocated for their music. However, numerous deals are made without the artist’s knowledge or consideration. For example, The Beatles’ catalog was purchased by Michael Jackson in 1985. The music company, ATV Records was up for sale with 4,000 songs, 251 belonging to The Beatles. Jackson outbid McCartney which broke their friendship. Ten years later, Jackson sold fifty percent of the music to Sony Records and merged with ATV, creating the publishing company, Sony/ATV. Following Jackson’s death in 2009, McCartney filed a lawsuit in 2017 and settled due to the US Copyright Act of 1976, which allowed artists to own their music after 35 years. 

In Taylor Swift's fashion, she was not content with Ithaca Holdings managing her music. Swift decided to re-record her six albums that were under Ithaca’s ownership. Re-recording was possible for Swift because she wrote all of her song lyrics and maintained musical composition copyright. This is an opportunity for the few artists who write their music; however, the financial component is a major concern. Not all artists have a fanbase that will value and listen to the re-recorded version, given that it’s the same song. In 2021, Swift released “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)”.  Re-recorded songs from the first six albums have (Taylor’s Version) next to the title, meaning Swift owns the rights to the song. Her fanbase, the Swifties, regard non-(Taylor’s Version) songs as the “stolen version.” Swift has successfully re-recorded four of the six albums, having 1989 (Taylor’s Version) outsell the original release. 

When describing the process of re-recording, Swift states, “It’s going to be fun, because it’ll feel like regaining a freedom and taking back what’s mine.” She always wanted to be able to write, record, and own her music, and when the opportunity to own was taken from her, “[she] responded to extreme pain with defiance.” Included in the re-recorded album are “From the Vault” songs; Swift wrote these songs during the time of the album but they were not chosen for the tracklist.

When Taylor announced that she was re-recording Fearless in 2021, I was fascinated by the story of her ownership. As one of the few artists who write, record, and perform their own songs, I always admired Taylor. I could not believe that the opportunity to buy the rights to her music was stripped from her. Since Taylor had the money to pay for the rights, I could not understand why they were sold to anyone else, especially behind her back. The men in charge solely wanted to prevent her from managing her work. 

Taylor is a role model for women and demonstrates the necessity of advocating for ownership. I gravitated towards the re-record of 1989. Much of the album’s art and promotion centered around Taylor’s songwriting and lyrical ability. The song titles and “1989” were written in her handwriting; this became an issue for Taylor when Ithaca obtained the rights to production and distribution of the album. Because her handwriting was the key concept of the album, Ithaca owned her handwriting and could market and distribute it as they pleased. Taylor grappled with this because her handwriting was undoubtedly hers and she no longer had the rights to her 1989 writing. 

One of the most defining characteristics of Taylor Swift and her career is her dedication to her craft and advocacy for writers and artists. She risked her career leaving Big Machine Records and speaking out against her record label. Despite the years of adversity, Swift redefined the music industry and is truly one of the greatest artists. 

References

Aniftos, R. (2020, November 17). Here’s everything Taylor Swift has said about re-recording her songs. Billboard. billboard.com/music/pop/everyone-taylor-swift-said-re-recording-her-songs-9485702/

Aswad, J. (2019, July 3). Taylor Swift couldn’t buy masters without signing new big machine deal. Variety Daily. variety.com/2019/biz/news/taylor-swift-couldnt-buy-masters-without-signing-new-big-machine-deal-1203259078/

Centrella, N. (2023, October 27). (Taylor’s version): Explaining Taylor swift’s re-recordings under the copyright law. Fitzpatrick Lentz & Bubba, P.C; Fitzpatrick Lentz & Bubba. flblaw.com/taylors-version-explaining-taylor-swifts-re-recordings-under-the-copyright-law/

Claire Dodson, P. (2019, November 14). Taylor Swift says Scooter Braun won’t let her use old music in new Netflix documentary and AMAs show. Teen Vogue. teenvogue.com/story/taylor-swift-scooter-braun-scott-borchetta-netflix-documentary-amas-performance

Grady, C. (2019, July 1). The Taylor Swift/Scooter Braun controversy, explained. Vox. vox.com/culture/2019/7/1/20677241/taylor-swift-scooter-braun-controversy-explained

Here’s why Taylor Swift is re-releasing her old albums. (n.d.). Time. Retrieved April 17, 2024, from time.com/5949979/why-taylor-swift-is-rerecording-old-albums/

Knopper, S. (2023, October 30). Labels want to prevent ‘Taylor’s version’-like re-recordings from ever happening again. Billboard. billboard.com/pro/taylor-swift-re-recordings-labels-change-contracts/

Ownership of master recordings in the music industry: Swift winds of change? - tilleke & Gibbins. (2019, December 4). Tilleke & Gibbins. tilleke.com/insights/ownership-master-recordings-music-industry-swift-winds-change-0/

Rys, D. (2017, January 20). A brief history of the ownership of the Beatles catalog. Billboard. billboard.com/music/rock/beatles-catalog-paul-mccartney-brief-history-ownership-7662519/

Taylor Swift. (n.d.). Time. Retrieved April 17, 2024, from time.com/6342806/person-of-the-year-2023-taylor-swift/