On Friday, Taylor Swift introduced she now owns all of the music she has ever made. This reported US$360 million acquisition contains all of the grasp recordings to her first six albums, music movies, live performance movies, album artwork, images and unreleased materials.
The acquisition of this catalogue from non-public fairness agency Shamrock Capital is a profoundly completely happy occasion for Swift. She has expressed how private and tough it was to not personal these works.
In her announcement, Swift acknowledged that it was because of her followers buying her rerecorded music (referred to as “Taylor’s Version”) and the monetary success of the record-breaking Eras Tour which enabled this buy.
What’s in a music catalogue?
In the case of valuing a music catalogue, it largely comes down to 2 kinds of rights: grasp rights and publishing rights.
Grasp rights are rights pertaining to the possession of the particular sound recordings – the ultimate recorded model. These are referred to as “masters” as a result of they’re the unique supply from which all copies are made.
Beneath conventional music trade contracts, document labels normally maintain possession of masters and related supplies. This may be music movies, tour movies, unreleased works, pictures and album covers.
Via licensing, the label controls using this materials and retains the vast majority of the royalties. In return, the label offers the artist with monetary backing, recording assets and advertising and marketing.
Publishing rights, alternatively, relate to the underlying composition – the music and lyrics. The rights to music publishing normally belong to the songwriter, no matter who performs the music.
Publishing rights govern how a music can be utilized and who earns royalties from that use. For instance, a music could also be performed on a streaming platform, lined in a reside efficiency or licensed for a industrial or movie.
Swift’s contracts
Swift was 15-years-old when she was signed to Scott Borchetta’s Massive Machine document label.
The agreed contractual phrases have been typical of the music trade. In change for the monetary help to make, document and promote her subsequent albums and excursions, Massive Machine held the rights to Swift’s grasp recordings and related supplies in her first six albums. Her relationship with the label lasted 13 years.
Swift was simply 15-years-old when she signed her first document contract.
AAP Picture/Tracey Nearmy
As a songwriter, Swift retained separate publishing rights to her songs (the music and lyrics) from her first six albums, which she licensed via Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
In 2018, Swift was reportedly supplied to re-sign with Massive Machine, in a deal which might contain her “earning” the rights to 1 unique album for every new one she produced.
Swift didn’t renew her contract and moved to Republic Information (Common Music Group), who permit her to personal her masters. She additionally moved to Common Music Publishing Group for her music publishing.
Subsequent gross sales
In June 2019, Massive Machine’s catalogue was bought to Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings, for a reported US$330 million, with US$140 million representing Swift’s catalogue.
Swift described this as her “worst case scenario”, as she had a tumultuous historical past of alleged bullying from Braun. She additionally alleged she discovered concerning the acquisition on the time it was introduced to the world, with out being given the chance to buy her catalogue.
All through 2019 and 2020 it was reported she tried to regain possession, however negotiations fell via.
In October 2020, Swift’s catalogue was bought to Shamrock Capital, a personal fairness agency, for an estimated US$300+ million. In recent times, non-public fairness corporations have been buying music catalogues as worthwhile long-term monetary property, quite than for inventive or cultural causes.
These occasions led Swift to rerecord her first six albums, branding them “Taylor’s Version”. 4 have been launched.
Swift rerecorded her albums, branding them ‘Taylor’s Model’.
melissamn/Shutterstock
She was capable of create new variations of her songs, with their very own mental property rights hooked up.
As proprietor of those new masters, she has management over the place these songs are used, and she or he receives a better portion of the revenue from the streams, downloads and licensing.
The choice was enormously profitable. Mobilising her followers’ help through social media, they prioritised buying “Taylor’s Version” over the unique masters, diluting the worth of the originals.
Profitable futures
Swift has repeatedly emphasised the necessity for artists to retain management over their work and to obtain honest compensation. In a 2020 interview she mentioned she believes artists ought to at all times personal their grasp data and licence them again to the label for a restricted interval.
This is able to imply the label might monetise, management and handle the recordings for a sure time, however the artist retains the possession. They finally acquire again full management, quite than handing over everlasting rights to the label.
Swift’s expertise has sparked conversations inside the trade, prompting rising artists to method document labels with warning and advocate for fairer offers and possession rights. Olivia Rodrigo negotiated her contract with Swift’s saga as a cautionary story.
Buying her catalogue and masters provides Swift autonomy about how the rights to all of her music is used. Her followers are more likely to proceed to help her and buy each the originals and “Taylor’s Version”, so the worth of her unique albums might rise.
And, within the long-run, her new acquisition will doubtless make her a lot wealthier.
