Taylor Swift’s Re-recording
Taylor Swift at American Music Awards 2019 From Wikimedia Commons
December 7, 2021
Tis’ the season, Taylor Swift’s re-recordings of her albums have started. Fifteen-year-old Taylor signed a record deal with Big Red Machine Label Group 2005. The terms and agreements to TS contact, which ended in 2018, were that the record company would own the master rights to her first six albums recorded under BRM. Swift is the main songwriter on her albums and this gained her the right to start re-recording all of her first six albums in November 2020. Swift’s given the re-recorded albums the name ‘Taylor’s version,” meaning that she now has full ownership over her version. In June 2019 Scooter Braun bought Big Red Machine Records, and also gained the rights of her masters before the ‘Lover’ album. Recent news surfaced that Scooter Braun sold the master’s TS albums to Shamrock Holdings. Taylor Swift has urged fans to stream Taylors version on all available platforms.
When LJHS students were asked about their thoughts on TS rerecording, Freshman Riley Lohr said, “Taylor Swift is a really smart person for what she’s doing, with her new album. I also think that her new album will help her grow as a person and artist.” Another freshman, named Sophia Baranic said “Taylor created her music so she deserves to own it. Not scooter.” Sophomore Maya gash said, “I think it is really cool because I always loved her music especially when I was younger or in elementary school, I would love to listen to her songs. And now I’m excited to listen to her again.” Senior Emila Ratkovic continued the conversation expressing, “She deserves to own all of her own music because she writes all of her own songs and didn’t deserve being stabbed in the back by Scooter. All of her songs are very poetic and tell a story, which is why she has many fans who support her.”
Taylor Swift is today’s most well-known musical artist in the music industry. Swift is setting an example for younger artists to negotiate with record labels to get ahold of master rights. And is aspiring other artists to re-record their music.