Culture
20 Nov 18

"I own all of my master recordings that I make from now on," Taylor Swift Signs New Record Deal

Taylor Swift has signed a new record deal with Universal Music Group and Republic Records giving her complete ownership over all future master recordings.

Following the expiration of her lifelong deal with BigMachine Label Group, signed when Swift was just 15, the "Look What You Made Me Do" singer has brokered a new deal that, monumentally, will allow her to have full ownership over the music she releases from now on.

This is thought to be the main reason Swift was anxious to break from Big Machine when her deal expired on 10 November this year. Big Machine owns the masters to all of Swift's previous releases, with American entertainment haven Variety reporting the label earned over 80% of its revenue from Swift's cataolgue.

Commenting on the deal Swift stated that she was "ecstatic".

"It's also incredibly exciting to know that I own all of my master recordings that I make from now on. It's really important to me to see eye to eye with a label regarding the future of our industry".

"I feel so motivated by new opportunities created by the streaming world and the ever-changing landscape of our industry... I also feel strongly that streaming was founded on and continues to thrive based on the magic created by artists, writers, and producers."

“Obviously, you’d need to see the detail of the contract to make a full judgment, but this is clearly the holy grail for any artist,” one business insider told Hot Press. “If you own the masters then you have control over what is done with them. You have the freedom to remake and remodel them in any way that you want to. Any permissions to use the tracks are in your gift, rather than in the hands of a third party. And so on. So this is a big moment for Taylor Swift, which reflects the level of success she has achieved as a recording artist."

Part of her deal also included the condition that “any sale of [UMG’s] Spotify shares result in a distribution of money to their artists, non-recoupable”.

Well-known for using her position to help other artists, Swift stated this was “a sign that we are headed towards positive change for creators – a goal I’m never going to stop trying to help achieve, in whatever ways I can”.