Taylor Swift is finally free to re-record her first five albums
“TAYLOR IS FREE!” declared Taylor Swift fans.
It was to celebrate that from November 1, the singer-songwriter is now legally free to follow up on her threat to re-record her first five albums.
They range from 2006’s self-titled Taylor Swift to 2014’s 1989.
Last June, Swift hit the roof when entrepreneur and artist manager Scooter Braun took ownership of her master recordings after he acquired her former record company Big Machine Records for a reported US$300 million.
Swift was 15 when she signed a deal with Nashville-based Big Machine which allowed it to control how her music would be used.
Swift claimed she was only told about the sale with the rest of the world, and in a show of comradeship, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus and Adele unfollowed Braun on Instagram.
Todrick Hall, a Braun client for six years, alleged the new owner was not a fan of her music.
Swift claimed that Braun had banned her from performing songs until November 2020.
She said she planned to re-record all her early albums after that.
She told Good Morning America at the time: “Yeah, that’s true and it’s something that I’m very excited about doing because my contract says that starting November 2020, so next year, I can record albums one through five all over again.
“I’m very excited about it. I just think that artists deserve to own their own work. I just feel very passionately about that.”
Pictured: Big Machine founder Scott Borchetta and mogul Scooter Braun
Braun said the bad vibes were all a “miscommunication” and revealed his family had received death threats from Swift fans.
Earlier this week, her following made their feelings known with the hashtag #TaylorIsFree.
One stated: “Finally, it’s November 2020, we all will be deleting all of her old music from our playlists and apps and will only be streaming Taylor’s art owned by Taylor.”
Another observed, “It was a fair criticism that her voice wasn’t really that strong when she was younger. I mean, she was sixteen, it’s to be expected that she got better over time.
“I’m also curious if she’ll just copy and paste the arrangements or if she’ll change them up.”
In October, Kanye West weighed into the debate tweeting he planned to “personally see to it that Taylor Swift gets her masters back”.
He added in caps: “SCOOTER IS A CLOSE FAMILY FRIEND.”
Swift’s new album Folklore has been the only one to have sold over one million in 2020. The last one to have done so was her Lover from last year.
The artist also allowed her music to be used for the first time n a political ad.
In this case, it was ‘Only The Young’ in a commercial by Californian congressman Eric Swalwell urging young people to vote for the Democratic Party.