Braun, who is the manager for artists Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato and Ariana Grande, engaged in “ incessant, manipulative bullying” towards Swift when her public reputation was at an all-time low in 2016. Swift made peace when leaving the Big Machine Label Group that Borchetta would eventually sell her master recordings although, she did not expect that Ithaca Holdings CEO Braun would purchase her master recordings. When signing a deal in 2005 with Big Machine Records, Swift agreed to relinquish the master recordings of her first six albums to the label, citing that Borchetta promised to keep his loyalty and that all “ music has value.” However, Swift was never given the chance to buy back her master records despite numerous requests. Prince famously stated in a 1996 Rolling Stone interview that “if you don’t own your masters, your master owns you.” Master recordings are valued greatly since they symbolize the pinnacle of music ownership record labels who own the master recording have the right to release the song for commercial use, such as in films and ads. Therefore, Swift’s original recordings are not able to be accessed for her personal music performances or for documentaries unless there is prior permission from her former record label. However, she doesn’t own the actual sound recordings for her first six albums. In Swift’s case, she owns the “musical composition” copyright for over 100 songs. A master recording represents the final version of the recording it is what listeners come to hear and recognize on the radio or on CDs. In order to regain control over her life’s work, Swift announced in August 2019 that she planned to re-record her past six albums once her re-recording contract clause restriction expired in November 2020. Swift was blindsided by the deal between Big Machine Label Group CEO Scott Borchetta and Ithaca Holdings CEO Scooter Braun, stating that “none of these investors bothered to contact or team directly - to perform their due diligence on their investment” and never asked her how she felt about Braun acquiring “ art, the music wrote, the videos created, photos of, handwriting, album designs.” Specifically, Swift’s discography constitutes nearly 80% of Big Machine Label’s revenue.
This offer, and the consequent selling of Swift’s master recordings to Ithaca Holdings, led Swift to speak out her life’s work was diminished and sold without her consent. Swift stated in a Tumblr post that she chose to part ways from Big Machine Records since she would be stuck in a perpetuating master recordings ownership cycle - earn back the rights for each of her six albums, one by one, by releasing more albums with the company.
Master editor tumblr full#
Currently, “Lover (2019),” “folklore (2020)” and “evermore (2020)” are the only full albums that Swift has full ownership of the master recordings under her new record label, Republic Records. All six albums’ master recordings have remained with Big Machines Records, despite her name being credited as a songwriter on 100% of the records she has released. Out of her total discography of nine albums, these six records account for 67% of the music she has released in her entire career. Swift’s re-recording battle with her former music label, Big Machine Records, started when her 13-year contract ended in 2018. Through this great feat, Swift will finally gain control over her entire life’s work of master recordings. Particularly, “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” can reestablish the handling of artist contracts and music ownership, reshaping the framework of the music industry. Ahead of the highly anticipated release, there has been controversy surrounding the handling of Swift’s master recordings by her former label, Big Machine Label Group, which has sold these masters to media company Ithaca Holdings instead of Swift. Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift is releasing the first of her re-recorded albums, “Fearless (Taylor’s Version),” on April 9.
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