When the news broke out in May that Taylor Swift bought the rights to the master recordings of her first six albums, her good friend and producer Jack Antonoff of Video of herself and Swift Lip Syncing together with “Getaway Car” from her album 2017 placed Reputation – The only album that she does not have to reclaim completely – writes: “Rep forever guilt free listening!”
A week after Swift announced the purchase, the album landed in the top five of Billboard’s 200 and the Spotify streams rose by 175%. Meanwhile, streams of the original version of Speak nowReleased in 2010, spoke 430%and streams for Swift’s debut titllless album from 2006 Rose 220%.
“It was a full boycott for a long time” Reputation.
So the moment Tanagretta found out that Swift was the proud owner of her original recordings, she hit the game ‘Dress’, her favorite song of the album. It felt like a victory for both Swift and Tanagretta.
“It’s like seeing your friend achieving their ultimate goal,” she recalls. “It was a very proud moment.”
Tanagretta is one of the millions of fast fans who no longer listen to the original albums after Swift encouraged them to hug her Taylor’s versions instead of. Swift launched these re -assignments for control of her first six albums by Scooter Braun, her old industrial rival, who became the owner of her catalog in June 2019, which launched her former record label, Big Machine, from her first six albums by Scooter Braun.
Swift, who once accused Braun of “continuous, manipulative bullying” in a widely scattered Tumblr post, described losing control over her masters as her “sausage-case scenario”. By recovering and releasing her music in the form of Taylor’s versions, Swift was planning to reclaim ownership and to reduce the financial value of Braun’s acquisition. Swifties quickly gathered behind her and turned their streaming choices into a gesture of solidarity.
Now that Swift has her most, the same fans confront a new listening landscape, one that is no longer about choosing parties in a feud, but about navigating by a double catalog, shifting habits and what, if there is something, now, ethical consumption now means.
‘Clash of the Titans’
Many artists who preceded Swift have tried to get their fans to give the rights of artists and the issue of property, including Prince and Van Morrison, music journalist Alan Light tells Yahoo. The English rock band even squeezed their top hits again for a new album called View the difference In 2010, only for the majority of their fans to say that they would rather have the originals, says Light. In fact, no other musician who had the issue of artists who had their master recordings had every success in collecting their fans to support their efforts, at least not compared to Swift.
That is because Swift would normally be considered a business dispute in an ethical debate, Paul Booth, a professor in the media and the pop culture at Depaul University, explains Swift.
“She did not say explicitly:” Don’t stream the original “, but her messages – especially around ownership and exploitation – created a moral framework that fans internalized,” he tells Yahoo.
Light agrees. “The fact that she has played the ownership conflict so publicly and so personally, it has made this clash of the Titans -ding with scooter Braun,” he says.
So although the Swift contract signed with Big Machine Records – and the offer that it made for her to earn back her masters – were standard for the industry, fans saw the entire debacle just as deeply unfair for Swift and took on her business. For them it wasn’t just things. It was personal – even political.
“This felt like another example of corrupt and broken systems that cheat working people out of honest opportunities,” says Mel Cairo, a 29-year-old Swiftie who works as a consultant in New York City, to Yahoo. “Even the most powerful woman in the world, with all the money in the world, could not escape it. If the system was honest, she could have bought her music in 2019.”
‘A cause in which we all had an interest’
Just like Tanagretta, Cairo immediately stopped listening to the original versions of the six albums that Swift did not fully owned when Braun bought them – Taylor Swift” Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 And Reputation – An experience she says was easily seen how worth the effort and exciting swift. Each new album arrived full of songs that Swift had left the original releases, and fans quickly embraced these so -called “vault” tracks, which fueled a huge debate on additions such as the vast new 10 -minute version of “All to Well” of Red (Taylor’s version) – released in addition to a much -praised short film Swift, directed herself.
“She made it fun during the whole process. It almost felt like it was a reason that we all had an interest,” says Cairo. For her, the most difficult part of Standing by Swift was apart from the raw vulnerability of the original Speak now In exchange for the lake polished and mature sound of the re -assignment.
Now that Swift has all its masters, Cairo is listening to the original Speak now Again and “appreciate it in new ways.” Otherwise she is attracted to the re -assignments because they are associated with more recent parts of her life. She mainly enjoys 1989 (Taylor’s version). “The safe songs are unreal,” she says.
Annie Marcum, a colleague Swiftie and a 32-year-old vet in Kansas City, Mo., appreciates the repeated version of 1989 For the small ways in which it differs from his counterpart 2014.
“I think it’s great how many more synthesizers from the 80s she put in it to bring that decade tribute,” says Marcum. Marcum even enjoyed listening to the new albums and detecting the subtle changes that only the most dedicated fans of Swift would pick up, she did not even realize that she had lost the experience of listening to the originals.
Taylor Swift plays on stage. (Kevin Winter/Tas24/Getty images for Tas Rights Management)
Well, all except Reputation. Unlike Tanagretta, Marcum did not stop listening to the beloved record, and despite what Antonoff implied in his X -post, she is not to blame about it.
‘I didn’t feel bad about listening Reputation And scooter Braun a quarter or whatever it is, “says Marcum. She acknowledges that at the end of the day” what we are really talking about, are two billionaires, while some people can’t even put food on the table. “Some critics and fans couldn’t help it, but notice the pure excess of Swift’s campaign, pointing to the multiple color variants of each reception and an endless stream of exclusive merch Taylor’s version edition. “Are we buying points in capitalism? I certainly don’t have false pretenses,” says Marcum.
Nevertheless, this sale is the value of Swift’s re -assignment, undermines the value of the originals and ultimately enabled Swift to buy back her masters for $ 360 million. And Marcum regards Swift’s victory as an important thing for artists, if only because it was exposed how unfair the music industry is to the actual musicians. “I know this is now the way of the world,” says Marcum, “but that does not necessarily mean that it is correct.”
For Marcum and others, Swift’s re -assignment campaign remains a matter of right versus wrong, from David who takes on Goliath and fights for the underdog, although Swift bought her masters back and eventually benefits en masse.
But that doesn’t matter to Cairo. She still appreciates everything she has learned about contracts and the music industry from the experience and regards it as just one of the different lessons that Swift has taught her about ethical consumption. During the two era tour shows that she attended, for example, she made sure that she bought the merchandise from opening Gracie Abrams and Paramore respectively, because she remembered that Swift said earlier in her career how important merch sales are to new artists.
Swift helps her fans to better understand how the music industry works and actually motivating to ensure is nothing less than game changing, says Light.
Even the pop star itself recognizes the meaning. In a letter she published on the website after news broke that she bought her “entire life’s work,” she wrote, “I’m extremely heartended by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry among, eagle Time a new a -time a new a -time a new athe -time a’s eastery a new athe -time a new athe -time a new athe -time a nonsy time a new athe -tells. Records in their record contract of this Fight, I’m Reminded of How Important IT was for all of this to happen.
“For whatever reason, Prince couldn’t do that,” says Light. “And if younger artists sign smarter deals because of what has come from all this, that is a significant impact.”
