Taylor Swift—a household name and trailblazer in the music industry—finds herself blazing a new trail through her old albums, and she is taking her fans along for the ride.
Since the start of her career, Swift has battled big names in the industry, with the biggest battle having been lost to Big Machine Records. After 13 years of making money for Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun at Big Machine, Swift knew she needed to own her own songs, and was ready to fight for them. Once Braun and Borchetta found out she was planning to re-record her masters, they refused to let her perform them live or include them in her Netflix documentary “Miss Americana.”
After a year of battle, Swift is taking the fight back to her home turf—the recording studio—where she will find peace in re-recording her first six albums. It will be up to her fans to listen to her newly recorded versions and drop the old ones, making them a symbol of corporate greed.
Now, about a year later, this was seemingly old news. The world was excited for Swift to re-record her first six albums, as she previously announced she would be doing. However, it seems Swift can’t catch a break.
Last week Braun, the music manager of Big Machine Records, sold the rights to Swift’s first six albums. While the buyer is still unknown, it is believed that Braun sold them for somewhere between $300-450 million dollars. So again, Swift seemed to be beaten. But that doesn’t mean that fans can’t join the fight.
Since Swift is now free from her previous contract, having signed with Republic Records and Universal Music Group, Swift and her fans will have their first taste of freedom. At the start of November, her fans took to social media to celebrate her release from her contract with Braun and Borchetta. They began expressing their excitement and got the hashtag #TaylorIsFree trending on Twitter.
And it seems the battle for the “first six” is well underway. Die-hard fans showed their support by pledging that they will be deleting the original version of her first songs and replacing them with the new ones.
Fans know “All Too Well,” it’s up to them to help Taylor blaze a new trail through her old albums.
4 Comments