Taylor Swift announced on February 11th on Good Morning America that a new recording of one of her first albums, «Fearless,» would be released on April 9.
But why would you spend your time re-recording an album that already had a great impact in the music industry 13 years ago?
«Fearless» for those who don’t live and breathe the news of Taylor Swift — is her most successful album. She sold more than 7 million records. However, the pop star does not own the master recordings of the songs on that album, or any songs on the albums she recorded before «Lover» in 2019. That includes big hits like «We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together «,» Mine «and» Shake It Off «.
“The recordings she originally made were made at a different time and under different contractual and legal objections. She’s not happy with this” Serona Elton, Director of the Music Business Program at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, told CNN Business. «Now she has full control of the recordings, although this does not change the control of the old recordings,» she explained.
When an artist signs with a label, the typical legal arrangement gives the record company ownership of the copyright in the recordings. This is commonly known as a «master» recording.
«The artist is paid a percentage of the revenue generated by the recording, but he/she is not in control. Now Taylor makes these recordings and publishes them. What happens to them is entirely up to her” she explained.
Taylor Swift’s Strategy
Rerecording her songs is a great strategy for Swift.
Taylor has a very dedicated and loyal fan base, and her voice is powerful enough to persuade her listeners to ditch her old recordings and listen to the new ones she now owns. Owning master recordings of hits like «Love Story» is likely to bring Swift a great deal of money. But owning your recordings goes beyond a matter of money.
For most of her career, Swift had a deal with «Big Machine Records». When it ended in 2018, the singer signed a new deal with «Universal Music Group». This granted her the ownership of her master recordings in the future.
Her previous «Big Machine» catalog was sold to a company owned by music manager, Scooter Braun. Braun’s «Ithaca Holdings» acquired Big Machine Label Group as part of a deal reportedly worth $ 300 million in 2019.
Swift said this was the «worst case scenario» as she claimed Braun had bullied her for years.
«This is what happens when you sign a deal at age 15 with someone for whom the term ‘loyalty’ is clearly just a contractual concept,» Swift wrote on Tumblr in 2019. «And when that man says’ music has value ‘It means that its value is indebted to men who did not participate in its creation.’
Artists Should Own Their Own Work
After Thursday’s announcement of «Fearless (Taylor’s Version),» Swift detailed why she was re-recording her songs.
«I’ve talked a lot about why I’m redoing my first six albums, but the way I chose to do this will hopefully help illuminate where I’m coming from», Swift wrote on Instagram. «Artists should own their own work for many reasons, but the most obvious is that the artist is the only one who really knows that body of work» she added.
For Swift, re-recording «Fearless» is a project that adds to a very prolific period. She released two albums during the coronavirus quarantine, «Folklore» and «Evermore,» which topped the charts.
Bruner, R. (2021, March 25). Why is Taylor Swift Re-rerecording her Old Albums? Retrieved April 16, 2021, from https://time.com/5949979/why-taylor-swift-is-rerecording-old-albums/
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