Behind (Taylor’s Version)

We all know Taylor Swift, right? Even if you don’t listen to her music, I’m sure you’ve at least heard of her. She started her music career as a country singer when she was 15 and released her first single, Tim McGraw (which was a huge success) in 2006. Since then she’s recorded nine albums, all of which have been extremely successful. In 2019, however, Taylor decided to re-record six of her albums starting from her first album, Taylor Swift, to her sixth album, reputation. So, why did she decide to do this? I know HC is full of Swifties, but for those who aren’t, I’ll be sharing with you the reasons behind (Taylor’s Version). 

When Taylor first began her music career in 2005, she signed with Big Machine Records which was owned by a man named Scott Borchetta. Like many musicians’ contracts, Big Machine Records held the masters––or original recordings ––of Taylor’s first six albums even when she moved labels to Universal’s Republic Records in 2018. After Taylor left Big Machine Records, Scott Borchetta sold the label to mega manager Scooter Braun and her master recordings were sold to him for a reported $300 million. Because of Scooter Braun’s close ties with Kanye West (with whom she infamously feuded with for more than a decade since he interrupted her Best Female Video acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV VMAs), Taylor considered him an enemy. She addressed the transaction on Tumblr saying “All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years… Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it. This is my worst-case scenario.” Taylor said that she previously entered negotiations with Scooter Braun to buy her masters back, but was unsuccessful. During her negotiations, her masters were sold again to a private equity group and as part of the sale deal, Scooter Braun would continue to profit from any future sales of Taylor’s albums. Although Taylor doesn’t own her master recordings of the first six albums, she has publishing rights to the music itself, so she has the rights to perform and record any of her songs. After the sale of her first six albums, Taylor tweeted: “I have recently begun re-recording my old music and it has already proven to be both exciting and creatively fulfilling.” 

Taylor Swift’s story of how she fought and is continuing to fight for ownership of her music brings light to this huge problem in the music industry. In Taylor’s situation, owning her masters makes all the difference to her. As of now, her previous label has free rein to do whatever they want with them without consulting her at all. Scooter Braun could potentially license out Taylor’s songs for things she wouldn’t want herself or her music associated with and she couldn’t do anything about it. This is a situation many artists find themselves in. Yes, owning masters gives an artist the right to collect the profits that come from them, but it also allows them to use their music for whatever they want to use it for or whatever they want their music to stand for. 

One last thing I want to cover is Taylor’s most recent (Taylor’s Version) album––Red––which was released this past November. Although the whole album is extremely popular, one song, in particular, seems to be the center of the album. I am referring to none other than All Too Well. Unlike the rest of Taylor’s music, All Too Well (the 10-minute version) features an accompanying music video directed by Taylor Swift and starring Dylan O’Brien and Sadie Sink. For those who don’t know, Red is largely about Taylor’s relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal, with All Too Well being one of the album’s most telling parts of her story. Earlier this year in an interview with ET, Taylor explained how shifting ownership of her masters for her former label gave her the inspiration and opportunity to record new versions of her old songs which led her to convert “one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written” into her first short film. 

Although Taylor’s experience with the ownership of her music has been a long, rough road, it has given her a new way to view her music and create new aspects of her art and I’m sure we’re all grateful for the opportunity to see Taylor take on new artistic elements with her music.