No one can doubt that Taylor Swift and her songs They are recognized all over the world. However, there was a time when the singer faced the entire music industry to regain her intellectual property. The man who robbed her tried to take advantage of Swift’s work, wanted to become a billionaire and attack the star, but she responded with a masterful move that shook the entertainment industry.
Who is Taylor Swift?
First, a bit of context.
Taylor Swift is an American singer-songwriter and actress widely recognized in the music and entertainment industry. She was born on December 13, 1989 in Reading, Pennsylvania, United States. Throughout her career, Swift has achieved significant success in the country and pop genres.and is known for her introspective and emotional lyrics.
She began her country music career at a young age, signing with a record label at age 15. Her self-titled debut album, Taylor Swift, was released in 2006 and quickly became a hit. Since then, she has released several hit records, including Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, Reputation, Lover, Folklore and evermore.
Currently, the country star is giving the eras tour worldwide, with dates almost completely sold out.
Taylor Swift and the day her songs were stolen
When Swift was just 15 years old and an emerging artist, she was signed to Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine Label Group label. Through this company she released her first six albums. To do so, unaware of the legal consequences she would face, the singer relinquished control of her masters, the original recordings of her songs, to Borchetta.
In June 2019, Borchetta sold his record label, including the rights to Swift’s masters, to Ithaca Holdings, a talent management company owned by Scooter braun for 300 million dollars. This man is known in the music industry for being the mercenary representative of stars like Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato and Justin Bieber.
This sale was made without the knowledge or prior consent of Taylor Swift, which generated strong controversy since it left the artist without ownership of the songs that she had written with her own handwriting.
Swift condemned the trade deal via Tumblr, calling it “the worst case scenario” and stating that he had faced “relentless and manipulative bullying” from Braun for years using artists like Bieber and Kim Kardashian and social media.
“Now Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, which I never had the chance to buy. Basically my musical legacy is about to fall into the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it,” Swift wrote on Tumblr.
public disagreement
Taylor Swift claimed that she had tried to buy her own masters over the years, but had never been given the opportunity. In a letter shared via Twitter, she claimed that Borchetta and Braun prevented her from performing any songs from her first six albums during her performance at the American Music Awards.
In November 2019, the singer asked for the help of her fans to approach the artists who work with Braun to ask them to sell her their masters.
Less than a year and a half after acquiring them, Braun sold the rights to Swift’s songs to Shamrock Holdings for more than $300 million. That same month, Swift revealed that the sale had occurred without her knowledge.
“He didn’t even offer my team a price. These master recordings were not for sale to me,” she stated via Twitter.
Taylor Swift’s Masterstroke: Re-recording
In response to losing control over songs, Taylor Swift has announced plans to re-record her first six albums, with the goal of gaining control over the new master recordings.
In April 2021 he launched Fearless (Taylor’s Version) which broke all streaming records at the time, unseating even the original recordings of the album.
Why does this strategy work? Because Taylor Swift is basically covering her own songs, with very slight variations to distinguish them from the originals. Fans supported this move and completely devalued the price of masters by not buying the original discs and blocking stolen songs from their streaming services.
The singer was able to re-record her entire discography because she kept the composition rights. She threw Red (Taylor’s Version) in November 2021 and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) in July 2023. In August 2023, he announced that 1989 (Taylor’s Version) will be released in October 2023, according to US Magazine.
In this way, the investment in Swift’s masters lost much of its value and she became the woman who has earned the most money from her musical career of all time, according to Vanity Fair.
The singer recovers her songs and Braun loses customers
Over the years, there have been negotiations between Taylor Swift and the owners of her old masters. Finally, in November 2020, an agreement was reached. The singer agreed not to re-record her first six albums until November 2022, instead immediately after the original sale.
Exactly two years later, Taylor Swift finally regained control of the master recordings of her first six albums, marking a major milestone in her fight for control of her music.
For his part, Scooter Braun tried to change the narrative with an interview in Variety in June 2021. There he shared his version of events and that he regretted having bought Swift’s masters. She added that what hurt her the most was Swift’s characterization of him as a bully.
“The regret I have is that I assumed that everyone, once the deal was done, was going to have a conversation with me, see my intentions, my character and say, ‘great, let’s do business together,’” he said.
It was recently reported that Scooter Braun has lost major clients throughout 2023, starting with JBalvin, Ariana Grande, and Demi Lovato.
March Violante Martha Elena Violante (March Violante) is editor-in-chief and co-founder of Emprendedor.com and has a 10+ year career in digital journalism. She has interviewed figures such as Randi Zuckerberg, Daniele Lamarre, Zoe Saldana, among others. She has worked in media such as Entrepreneur in Spanish and English, Alto Nivel, Cine PREMIERE, México Desconocido, among others. “We are entrepreneur.com”