Picture this, you are a skilled artist who took years to create a collection of art, one day you wake up and discover that your collection,  which you poured your heart and soul into, is no longer yours and that you will no longer own or profit from the art you created. Undoubtedly, as an artist, it’s like having a huge part of your identity stripped away from you in an instant.

This is the case for thousands of female artists within the music industry. Amongst them, decorated singer-songwriter; Taylor Swift, who decided to use her unique position in a typical white male-dominated field to empower aspiring artists to stand up against exploitation and injustice.

Back in 2019, Swift explained she didn’t own the masters to her first six studio albums due to a contract she signed when she was younger. After multiple failed attempts to rebuy her music, she announced her plans to embark on a new phase of her career by rerecording her entire catalog. Throughout her battle to regain ownership of her music, Swift has spoken against the unfairness and misogyny in the music industry and demonstrated her endeavor to teach young artists a very valuable lesson; “you deserve to own the art you make”.

“I spent 10 years of my life trying rigorously to purchase my masters outright and was then denied that opportunity, and I just don’t want that to happen to another artist if I can help it,” Swift said in a recent interview with Billboard.

You may be wondering why such a successful artist as Swift would want to re-record her albums? Well, let’s begin by putting things into context. At the young age of 15, Swift signed a contract with Big Machine Record Label, then owned by Scott Brochetta. The contract gave the label full ownership of Swift’s masters; the original recordings of a song. This licensed them to not only own all of Swift’s albums, videos, and art but to give them whatever use they wished.

Flash forward to 2019, executive producer and manager of Ithaca Holdings, Scooter Braun, bought Big Machine Records for  $300 million, acquiring Swift’s first 6 studio albums. Then, in November 2020, they were sold once again to private-equity group Shamrock Holdings. The buyer, Scooter Braun, was known to have clashed with Swift, as he had worked with famous artists whom Swift had public feuds with in the past, he was accused multiple times of bullying her, and Swift called him “the definition of toxic male privilege in our industry.” This meant that the deal didn’t only involve the loss of ownership, but Swift also expressed through social media that it was a betrayal of her trust, calling it ‘her worst-case scenario.’ As tension continued to rise between the two, Swift explained her despair with the circumstances, as the deal prevented her from performing her own songs on stage.

“Taylor claimed Scooter and Scott wouldn’t let her play old songs at the 2019 AMA’s and refused to let her include any older Taylor performances in her Netflix documentary, Miss Americana.”, Cosmopolitan writers Mehera Bonner and Starr Bowenbank explained.

Swift made multiple attempts throughout the years to rebuy her masters from her former label & regain ownership of her art, however, every attempt resulted in failure.  The company initially offered her a contract that would grant her ownership of her masters, the deal said she could earn 1 album back for every new one she put out, while also having to stay in the label for 10 more years.

Because Swift knew that Scott was planning to sell soon and didn’t want to hand away her future, they couldn’t reach an agreement. A few days later she made another attempt to bid for her music, but she was told, in order to do so she had to sign an NDA that would silence her from ever speaking up against any form of oppression or injustice she had endured in the industry, causing her to walk away for good from the label.

“Scooter’s team wanted me to sign an ironclad NDA stating I would never say another word about Scooter Braun unless it was positive, before we could even look at the financial records of BMLG…. So, I would have to sign a document that would silence me forever before I could even have a chance to bid on my own work.” Swift said in a letter posted on her social media. 

Without hesitating, Swift decided to stay true to her values and speak up against the unrighteous situation. To do so, she came up with a plan in which she would devalue her old tracks by releasing new versions of them. Because Swift has written all of her songs on her past albums, she continued to have the “sync rights” to her music, this giving her the opportunity to re-record without getting sued for copyright infringement, while also having the power to decide when and where her music can be used. In 2019, after the sale took place, Swift announced her decision to leave Big Machine Records for a new deal with Universal Republic Records where she would have ownership of all her upcoming music and a chance to re-record her catalog as a reminder of the legacy she had built.

“Thankfully, i am now signed to a label that believes i should own anything i create, thankfully i left my past in Scott’s handstand not my future, and hopefully young artists or kids with musical dreams will read this and learn about how to better protect themselves in a negotiation.”- Swift expressed in a lengthy social media post which the singer captioned “Don’t know what else to do”.

Earlier in 2020 Swift revealed that in November, the policies in her old contract would allow her to re-record her self-titled debut album along with albums; Fearless, Speak Now, Red and 1989. She has expressed enormous enthusiasm for the rerecording process, as it will allow her to regain freedom & generate a long-lasting change in the music industry.

“ The reason I’m rerecording my music next year is because I do want my music to live on. I do want it to be in movies, I do want it to be in commercials. But I only want that if I own it.” Swift stated in an interview with billboard.

The first album on Swift’s new musical phase titled Fearless (Taylor’s version) was released on April 9th 2021 followed by Red (Taylor’s version) on November 12th. Additionally, she has voiced her plans to release other upcoming albums & affirms she has many more surprises in store. It has been said that Swift aimed to make the re-recordings an improved version of the older albums, hence having a few modifications and additional tracks that originally didn’t make the cut. The re-recordings have been a major success and chart-toppers around the world, going above and beyond everyone’s expectations. She has received praise from multiple artists and magazines for her powerful action and her dedication to raising awareness about social issues. 

“That’s the amazing thing about Red (Taylor’s Version) — it’s a tribute to how far she’s traveled, but it makes you even more excited for where she’s heading next. This is the golden age of something good and right and real” said Rob Sheffield, writer of Rolling Stone Magazine

Swift was determined from the beginning to overcome this obstacle and use it as an opportunity to not only regain financial and legal freedom of her work but also to stand up for herself and make a powerful statement. Although it may go unheard of, this issue is not uncommon in the music industry. Some artists have spoken on the matter, but the force and passion with which Swift addressed this issue has been an inspiration for young artists in society. Through her hard work and effort, she advocates justice for new artists entering the music industry, especially women who are prone to inequality and oppression, and uses her experience as a cautionary tale about music contracts and record labels.

“Swift is one of few artists with the power and profile to create change in the music world — when she acts, the industry listens. In reclaiming her masters, and drawing attention to the saga surrounding it, she has made a dramatic statement about the importance of artists owning their work and refusing to let others capitalise on their creativity,” wrote Katie Rosseinsky in her article “Red: How Taylor Swift is changing the music industry one re-record at a time.”