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Business Journals
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Journals
How a pop star's actions stirred a master class in copyright law
You may have heard that Taylor Swift recently purchased the rights to her master sound recordings from her first six albums for a reported $350 million dollars. This has led many people to wonder, why would she have to buy the rights to her own music and how did she do it? The answer involves a mix of copyright law, contract law, determination, savvy business and a dedicated fan base. The story begins with a 15-year-old Taylor Swift signing a music contract with Big Machine Records (BMR) and releasing her first album, 'Taylor Swift' in 2006. As a part of her music contract, BMR financed the production of her first six albums and received ownership of the master recordings that formed each of those albums. By receiving ownership in the master recordings, BMR, through the exclusive rights granted to copyright owners in Section 106 of U.S. Copyright Law, was able to control how the recordings were distributed, licensed and monetized. Swift also agreed to not re-record her music for a period of time. Importantly, ownership of the master recordings is separate from the ownership of the musical work, which, according to copyright law, vests in the composer or creator. Because Swift wrote or co-wrote the vast majority of the songs on these albums, she held substantial 'composer' rights. Over the course of these six albums, Swift became one of the most popular and best-selling recording artists of all time. Things began to get really interesting in November of 2018 when Taylor Swift's contract with BMR expired and she left and signed with Universal Music Group's Republic Records. As a part of that deal, she negotiated for her ownership of all of her future master recordings recorded for Republic Records. At the same time, she alleges that she was trying to purchase her master recordings from BMR. In June of 2019, BMR was sold to Ithaca Holdings for a reported $330 million dollars. Ithaca Holdings was controlled by music executive Scooter Braun. Because BMR owned Swift's master recordings from her first six albums, Ithaca Holdings became the new owner of the rights to these recordings. Swift was not happy with the sale as she was trying to purchase her recordings at the same time. This ignited a public feud that was so newsworthy, it led to its own docuseries on Max called 'Taylor Swift vs Scooter Braun: Bad Blood.' Swift publicly asserted that BMR and Braun had bullied her and presented her with unreasonable demands as it related to the potential sale of the master recordings back to her. Additionally, she alleged that they had refused to allow music from any of her first six albums to be used in a Netflix documentary about Swift or to be performed at the 2019 American Music Awards where she was honored as Artist of the Decade. Ithaca and Braun denied these allegations. In response to the feud, on July 13, 2019, Kelly Clarkson tweeted, 'just a thought, U should go in & re-record all the songs that U don't own the masters on exactly how you did them but put brand new art and 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.' Later Clarkson would credit Reba McEntire with inspiring the tweet, as McEntire had re-recorded some of her songs years earlier. In August of 2019, Swift announced that she was going to do exactly that and plans for the re-recording began. In the meantime, Ithaca Holdings sold Swift's master recordings to Shamrock Capitol for between $300 and $450 million dollars in November of 2020. This second sale further infuriated Swift who allegedly was still trying to buy the rights. In April of 2021, after her contractual obligation to not rerecord her music had passed, Swift released 'Fearless (Taylor's Version).' This was followed by 'Red (Taylor's Version)' in November of 2021, 'Speak Now (Taylor's Version)' in July of 2023 and '1989 (Taylor's Version)' in October of 2023. Shamrock Holdings could still sell the original versions, but the demand for these plummeted. Instead, everyone wanted to buy, use and license the new versions, which were entirely controlled by Swift as the owner of both the composer rights and the master recording rights. However, she didn't own the rights to all of her music until she purchased them, together with full ownership of unreleased songs, album art, concert films, photography and music videos last month for a reported $350 million dollars. Because of Swift's actions, artists (and their agents and managers) should have a better understanding of what they might be giving up when they enter into a recording contract. Conversely, companies that have musician contracts are already trying to extend the period of time where an artist cannot re-record their music in order to avoid this situation. To say this was a master class in business would be an understatement. Swift capitalized on copyright law, contract law and her fan base to get exactly what she had been pursuing for years. In her own words, 'All of the music I've ever made…now belongs…to me.'
The Citizen
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
‘All of the music I've ever made belongs to me' : Taylor Swift wins long battle to own masters
Taylor Swift has been embroiled in a longstanding battle with Big Machine Records since 2019, following her decision to leave the label. Taylor Swift has celebrated the re-purchasing of the masters of her first six albums. Picture: taylorswift /Instagram Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has repurchased the masters of all six albums she released under the record label, Big Machine Records. 'To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,' wrote the singer in a letter shared on her website. The multi-award-winning singer-songwriter has been in a longstanding battle with Big Machine Records since 2019 after she decided to leave the label. A master recording is the original version of a song from which all copies are made. The owner holds the exclusive rights to use, license, and profit from the recording. That includes distributing it to streaming services, pressing new physical CDs and vinyl, creating box sets, or licensing songs to movies or video games. ALSO READ: Taylor Swift's 10th album 'Midnights' crashes Spotify Taylor's fight for her masters After Taylor decided to leave Big Machine Records, artist manager Scooter Braun acquired the masters to Taylor's first six albums, which essentially meant that he was now in control of all her early work; this never sat well with Taylor, as she had tried to buy the Masters from the record company. Taylor expressed her frustration with Braun and Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta through Tumblr posts in 2019. Fellow singer and now TV host Kelly Clarkson advised Taylor to re-record her first album so she can own the new material. @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 💁🏼♀️ July 13, 2019 'It's something that I'm very excited about doing because my current contract says that starting November 2020—so next year—I can record albums one through five all over again. I'm very excited about it because I think that artists deserve to own their work. I just feel very passionately about that,' she said in a 2019 interview, confirming the re-recording of the work. Later on that year, the American Music Awards (AMA) awarded Taylor the Artist of the Decade award, which meant she'd have to perform some of her old material. 'I've been planning to perform a medley of my hits throughout the decade on the show. Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun have now said that I'm not allowed to perform my old songs on television because they claim that would be rerecording my music before I'm allowed to next year.' However, the record company denied this, saying, 'At no point did we say Taylor could not perform on the AMAs or block her Netflix special. In fact, we do not have the right to keep her from performing live anywhere.' Taylor has released four re-recorded albums, known as Taylor's Versions, featuring dozens of bonus tracks and supplementary material. ALSO READ: WATCH: What to expect from the Taylor Swift tribute show Victory, finally In her letter, Taylor expressed joy in the ownership of her music after years of fighting. 'All the times I was thiiiiiiiis close, reaching out for it, only for it to fall through. I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away. But that's all in the past now,' she wrote. 'I've been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out that this is really happening.' ALSO READ: PICTURES: Behind the scenes at Taylor Swift tribute show Industry modus operandi Around 2020, when Taylor was pursuing her master's, South Africa's Black Coffee acquired a significant stake in Mzansi's oldest independent record company, Gallo Music Investments (GMI). The purchase was made through his investment company, FlightMode Digital, for an undisclosed amount. Earlier that year, Gallo was acquired by Lebashe Investment Group from Tiso Blackstar for R75 million, incorporating it into the news and entertainment business Arena Holdings. The Grammy Award-winning producer described this as a shift in the landscape of both the South African and African music industries. 'The partnership with Lebashe to invest in the catalogue and masters is more than just a business transaction – it's about creating an environment in which artists and creatives have a truly equitable stake. It is also the beginning of an industry revolution where African artists are part of structures that are fair and encourage new ways to monetise content,' said Black Coffee in a statement. Gallo owns the catalogues of renowned South African musicians, including Lucky Dube, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Mango Groove, among its long list of stalwarts. In 2020, contrary to Taylor's ongoing fight, rap artist Lil Wayne sold his masters to Universal Music for $100 million (approximately R1.7 billion). Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie are other notable artists who have sold their entire catalogue to giant record companies. NOW READ: Kelvin Momo releases album amid speculation about his involvement at this year's Redbull Symphonic
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jason Aldean to bring 'Full Throttle Tour' to Twin Cities
Country singer Jason Aldean is bringing his "Full Throttle Tour" to the Twin Cities. The tour will make a stop at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center on Saturday, Sept. 6. Presale tickets go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m. CT and regular onsale begins at 10 a.m. CT on Friday via Ticketmaster's website. Aldean last performed in the state as a headliner for the Winstock Country Music Festival in June will be joined by special guests Nate Smith, Raelynn and Dee Jay Silver. Aldean has garnered a list of accolades over the years, with 27 number one singles, more than 20 million albums sold and over 15 billion streams. He won the American Country Music (ACM) Artist of the Decade award for 2010-2020 and earned an ACM Entertainer of the Year nomination. Aldean's last studio album, Highway Desperado, was released in 2023. The country music star was the source of controversy that same year for his song "Try That in a Small Town," which reached No. 1 on the Billboard's Hot 100 chart. Following the release of the music video, some accused it of being a coded endorsement of racism and gun violence, which both Aldean and the video's producers have denied.
