Taylor Swift “Begins Again” with New Re-Recordings

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Taylor Swift is re-recording her first six albums to gain back the rights to her master recordings, after they were bought by Big Machine Records in 2019. Swift signed to Big Machine in 2005 and released six albums with them before her contract later expired in 2018.

The master rights to a song are usually owned by the record label and allow the owners to distribute or license the song to third parties, such as film, television, commercials, and more. Artists who own their masters receive the entirety of profit generated by the music, while when record labels own master rights they typically pay artists royalties of 10-20 per cent.

In 2019, Big Machine Records was bought from CEO Scott Borchetta by Scooter Braun, along with the master rights to Taylor Swift’s first six albums. Borchetta remained the CEO after Braun’s purchase of Big Machine for USD $300-350 million, according to The New York Times. When Swift signed to Big Machine back in 2005, her contract stated that the company owned her masters. Therefore, with Braun’s purchase of Big Machine, he gained Taylor Swift’s masters. Swift claimed that she had been asking to buy her masters for a long time, but was denied the opportunity. In response to her requests, Big Machine instead proposed an alternate agreement.

In a 2019 Tumblr post, Swift stated, “For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. Instead I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in. I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future. I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past.”

When Swift’s contract with Big Machine ended, she signed with Republic Records. Her agreement with Republic Records stated that she would own the master recordings of the albums she released with them. Swift announced her plans to re-record her past albums, originally recorded with Big Machine, with her new label in 2019.

In the fall of 2020, Swift’s masters were sold without her knowledge for a second time to Shamrock Holdings, an investment company. At the time, Swift was actively trying to buy back her masters, but claimed that she was asked to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement (“NDA”) before she was permitted to negotiate. The NDA required that she never say anything negative about Scooter Braun again, which made her feel that she was being silenced. Swift decided to give up on her old masters and instead re-record the albums.

Record contracts commonly include a re-recording restriction, meaning the artist can’t make a new version of the old sound recording until a certain amount of time has passed. In Swift’s case, she is required to wait five years after the initial release. Because of this, Swift’s 2017 album Reputation, the last album she recorded with Big Machine Records, will have to wait until November 2022 to be re-recorded. Until then, she’s free to re-record any of her other albums.

Swift released her first re-record ing in April 2021: Fearless (Taylor’s Version). The 26 song album included the original 19 tracks from Fearless Platinum Edition, plus seven previously unreleased “vault” tracks. According to MRC Data, it sold over 867,000 album units and accumulated nearly 600 million streams, more than four times what the original Fearless sold in the same period of time.

Though Fearless (Taylor’s Version) was a massive success, it was dwarfed by the release of Red (Taylor’s Version) on November 12, 2021. The album has 30 songs, 20 from 2012’s Red (Deluxe Edition) and nine vault tracks, including the much anticipated 10 Minute Version of “All Too Well.” Red (Taylor’s Version) smashed records, with Spotify announcing it became the most streamed album by a female artist in one day and made Taylor Swift the most streamed female artist in one day, at over 90.8 million and 122.9 million streams respectively.

Why is it important for artists to own their own work? In 2019, not owning her masters created trouble for Swift. At the time, she was being awarded Artist of the Decade, performing at the American Music Awards, and was in the process of creating her Netflix documentary Miss Americana. She wanted to include a medley of songs and old material in the performance and documentary, but claimed Big Machine Records and Scooter Braun were preventing her from using it. Scooter Braun denied this, and Swift was eventually able to perform her older music at the awards show.

For up-and-coming artists, Swift’s story is cautionary tale to be sure to read the fine print. Record contracts are legally binding documents, and anything signed early in an artist’s career may affect them years down the road. Swift’s impact is already showing; 18 year-old Olivia Rodrigo ensured that she owns her masters from the beginning of her career, something she attributed to Swift’s influence.

What might future record contracts look like? After so much public attention on artist ownership, artists will be paying more attention to the terms of their contracts and could negotiate for different rights. Re-recording restrictions will likely be extended for longer periods of time in the future after the success of Swift’s re-recordings and devaluing of the old versions. Swift, in a 2020 interview with Variety Magazine, wondered whether contracts should be shorter, or if steps need to be taken to make it easier for artists to buy back their own work. She hoped that the attention on her story would lead to greater transparency between musicians and labels when it comes to ownership.