A record label took all his past to Taylor Swift, She lost the work she did on her first six albums which catapulted her to success, but by raising her voice and making visible what is happening within the record labels, she became one of the few artists who went get control and own everything you do.
Andrea Pastor, A lawyer and specialist in entertainment law and the music industry, explains that Swift, who is currently signed with Universal Music in the US, she will own her masters out of her contract, although she negotiated with the record company that she will give them a license or temporary authorization in exchange for them to use their songs.
“When she signs with Universal she says,‘ I had to make a sacrifice, give up my past and look to my future, ’because from her Lover record she owns everything, which is an unprecedented issue, only artists like her manage to make such contracts. “
Also read: Taylor Swift will release “Fearless” album re-recording to regain the rights
But what happened to Taylor?
According to Pastor, who worked at Memories of the Capitol, An American record label owned by Universal Music Group when Taylor signed with them, says that in the world of record companies, on the one hand, there are copyrights in terms of lyrics and music the songs, and on the other, the interpretation, which in slang is called master.
“When you sign a record deal, in the industry standard, the label asks that everything you record, all the performances, be from the label, then all these albums from one to six by Taylor (the masters) are from Big Machine Records, With whom he signed when he began his career.
“On the music and lyrics side, Taylor signed with Sony / ATV Music Publishing, they had the authorial part. The controversy arose with the label that had their masters.”
$ 300 MILLION was the sale of the masters of his first six albums.
It all started, he says, when Swift was about to conclude his contract with Big Machine Records, the owner was Scott Borchetta; to continue with him, she asked for the master’s degree to be returned to him and he said yes, as long as he signed a new contract, and for every new album he released, he returned one.
“But Taylor said, ‘no, thank you, I’d better go to another record label,’ and so he signed with Universal.”
The lawyer explains that Big Machine Records was later acquired by Scooter Braun, whom Taylor accused of having done to him. bullying.
Also read: Taylor Swift is in trouble, park the lawsuit to use the name “Evermore”
“For her it was a double problem: that she couldn’t regain ownership of her master’s degrees and that they sold her work to someone she doesn’t get along with.”
To make matters worse, Scooter in turn sold Taylor’s records to Shamrock Holdings for more than $ 300 million, without warning.
But now that he has won the contract with Big Machine Records, he is free to re-record his records without Scooter, despite owning these productions, being able to use them because he will not have the rights to the lyrics and music.
“Taylor is blocking all these people from her former record label and whoever has their master’s degrees in the past,” the lawyer adds.
#Listen The best of Taylor Swift, the singer who undertook a warrior for her rights https://t.co/cGAuiMcqBN pic.twitter.com/BarUwPQwVO
– Univ_Espectaculos (@Univ_espect) February 20, 2021
OTHER lawsuits FOR THEIR SONGS
Prince changed its name to Love Symbol in the 90s when it fought with Warner. In 2014 he regained the rights to his catalog. 
Bob Dylan losing the rights to several songs, including “Blowin ‘in the wind,” when the label sold the catalog to Michael Jackson.
Paul McCartney suffer to regain the rights to their songs; it was unlikely to him that to sing “Hey Jude” he had to pay.