Editorial: What is Taylor’s Version?
Red (Taylor’s Version) swiftly gained traction and set various records. The album had the second biggest opening week after the release of Certified Loverboy by artist Drake, and held the number one spot on Billboard’s album chart fifteen times. Upon the release of the Red (Taylor’s Version), Spotify recognized Swift as the most streamed female artist in a single day at over 122.9 million streams, and the most streamed album in a day by a female with more than 90.8 million streams. The album is the second in the Taylor’s Version ensemble after Fearless (Taylor’s Version) which debuted in April 2021. But what is the significance of Taylor’s Version? And why bother with the tedious process of re-recording over 100 songs?
Swift’s albums from around 2006-2017 were initially produced by Big Machine Records as part of a six-album deal that was made with the record label in 2005, when Scott Borchetta was the owner. Through the agreement, Swift gave full ownership of the masters to the label. This left Swift with no control of the rights to how her music could be licensed for artwork, videos, and to whom these masters could be sold, which applied to both current and forthcoming albums. In 2019 Scooter Braun bought Big Machine Records for over $300 million, and Swift was not notified of this negotiation. Scooter then went on to sell Swift’s music in 2020 to a private equity firm by the name of Shamrock Holdings for around $140 million without her consent. Although Swift’s efforts to reinstate legal ownership of her masters have been to no avail, she still possesses the synchronization rights of her work as she has written all of her songs. With these rights, Swift has the ability to impede the use of her songs in projects requiring a synchronization license. The sync license under which Swift signed when she joined Big Machine Records also expired. This additionally permits the artist to re-record her masters without being sued for factors such as copyright infringement by Shamrock Holdings or Big Machine Records. For example, Swift has exercised her legal rights to song titles and trademarked phrases as well, one of the most popular being ‘This Sick Beat’ from “Shake It Off.”
Taylor’s Version emulates the start of a new era in which Swift continues to take back her power and autonomy as an artist. Her hard work demonstrates her astuteness and perseverance as a businesswoman in the music industry. All in all, the new masters provided by Swift’s re-recorded albums and singles will secure new legal ownership of her work while diminishing the value of the previous rights.
