On November 1, Taylor Swift enthusiasts rejoiced that the singer will now legally re-record her old songs. She has been in a war with her old label for ownership of her music. November 2020 represents some progress for Swift now that she can regain some freedom to re-record her music.
While Swift is arguably the most prominent artist going through such a situation, some other pop star has experienced something similar before Swift.
In June 2019, music mogul Scooter Braun acquired Big Machine Label Group, the record label Swift signed with as a teenager and with which he released his first six albums, allowing Braun to have the master recordings of several of Swift’s hit singles.
Swift shared that before Big Machine was sold, she asked for the possibility to buy her master’s degrees. However, then-owner Scott Borchetta refused and only allowed him to “win” all the albums as he released more music with the label.
Swift left Big Machine and, after Braun acquired the label, spoke out against him on social media. On her Tumblr account, Swift accused Braun of “intimidating” her over the years and Braun’s acquisition of her music “at worst. . “
Big Machine and Braun can now do whatever they need with Swift’s music, adding cash with Swift’s paintings and applying restrictions on what you can do with it. However, with Swift able to re-record her songs, the hope is that she now has more rights to her music and enthusiasts can use new versions of her songs.
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Swift is the first artist to have to re-record her music after a fight with a label. Pop star JoJo, who rose to fame in the early 2000s with hits such as “Leave (Get Out)” and “Too Little Too Late, also struggled to regain ownership of his music.
JoJo had a successful career as a teen artist, but after releasing his album moment in 2006, he allegedly stopped dating new music. That’s because his label, Da Family Entertainment, refused to release anything new from JoJo. She sued them in 2009 and it was despite everything released from her contract in 2013.
Like Swift, JoJo also did not own his teachers; He re-recorded his old music in 2018 and shared it on music streaming sites, where his music had never been before.
“I released those new masters from my first two albums because I was tired of other people saying,” why did you delete your Spotify albums?”, He told People, as BuzzFeed reports, they were never there, I would never do that. Why would I be a lunatic and need to erase my story?It doesn’t make any sense. I love money; I like that other people can go back and have access to my songs when they need it ».
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Before Swift discovered he was in the fight with Big Machine and Braun, he showed a lot for JoJo.
“A few years ago, Taylor showed me her house, actually,” JoJo told People. She said, ‘I can’t do everything you’re going through. It’s so fucked up, so fake, blah blah blah. And of course, she never knew that she would go through something similar where her catalog had been bought. “
Of course, JoJo also stated that his stage and Swift’s are very different. She shared: “I was literally completely silenced. Taylor’s in another position in his career. In fact, I was marginalized and it was quite painful. I don’t think his career suffers from everything that’s happened. They are available on streaming services, that’s the difference ».
In any case, it is transparent that JoJo and Swift’s willingness to talk about this issue has brought him to the forefront of people’s concerns. It remains to be noted whether anything will replace artists in the music industry.