Taylor Swift
“No matter what happens in life, be good to people. Being good to people is a wonderful legacy to leave behind.”
With the Eras Tour in full swing and my ever-growing obsession with her and her music, it only makes sense that I write my first blog post about Taylor Swift. When I think about successful women in the industry, my mind immediately jumps to Taylor. At 34 years old, Swift has become one of the most successful musicians with 14 Grammy Awards, 11 Number 1 Hits on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, and 12 Country Music Awards. While her success comes from her music, Taylor Swift has not been afraid to use her platform to advocate for artists across the globe to own their music and for equality in America.
When Taylor Swift was fifteen years old, she signed a thirteen-year recording contract with Scott Borchetta and his newly formed recording company, Big Machine Records. The recording contract gave Big Machine ownership of the masters of her first six albums. The master is the specific sound recording of the final product that is made into final copies for sale and distribution and sent to streaming platforms. However, while Borchetta owned the masters, Swift retained ownership of the publishing rights. When her sixth studio album, “Reputation,” was released, and the thirteen years were up, Swift signed a new recording deal with Republic Records at Universal in November 2018. Originally, Taylor was promised ownership of her first six masters as part of the agreement, but in 2019, Swift and Borchetta entered a dispute over the masters when they were sold to Scooter Braun for $300 million.
In August 2019, Swift announced she would re-record her first six albums in order to own her work. On a Good Morning America appearance, Swift stated, “I think artists deserve to own their own work.” As of now, Taylor has re-recorded four of her six unowned albums: Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version), Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), and 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Along with these re-records, Swift owns the masters for her albums Lover, Folklore, Evermore, Midnights, and The Tortured Poets Department (coming out April 19!!!).
Following Taylor’s statements about the importance of artists owning their work, many young female artists have also fought to own their work. When Olivia Rodrigo signed with Geffen Records, a record label part of UMG, she made owning her masters a prerequisite to signing the contract. Dua Lipa also listened to Taylor and acquired her music from TaP Music Publishing before leaving the company in early 2022. Another singer-songwriter, Zara Larson, repurchased her masters before starting her own record label, Sommer House.
During the same time, Taylor also began to voice her political opinions. Up until 2018, she was silent about her political views. However, prior to the Tennessee Midterm Elections in 2018, Taylor posted on Instagram, “I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love.” In the post, Taylor backed Tennessee Democrats Phil Bredeson and Jim Cooper for the Senate and House of Representatives respectively. Eight months later, on June 17, 2019, Taylor Swift released her second single from the Lover album, “You Need To Calm Down.” The song shows Taylor’s support for the LGBTQ+ community and women’s rights. Along with the release of the “You Need to Calm Down” music video, Taylor linked a petition in support of the Equality Act, which she also advertised during her VMA acceptance speech for the “Video of the Year'' award for “You Need To Calm Down.” In her documentary, Miss Americana, released in January 2020, Swift went more in-depth about her political views and showed behind-the-scenes conversations that led to the Instagram post that broke her silence over politics. Since then, Taylor has used her social media platforms to endorse the Biden-Harris Administration during the 2020 election and remind people to register to vote.
