As you might have heard, Taylor Swift is re-recording her first 6 albums in order to have the full control and rights over her Masters. Some of you might be wondering why she has to do this, since she is the writer and performer of all of her music, and I am here to explain that.
Since Taylor first started making music and was signed to a label, Big Machine Records, at 14 years old, she was taken advantage of in this deal and was not given the full rights to her music that she was writing, singing, and performing. When she came back as an adult trying to buy and own the rights to her full Masters, she was denied and her Masters were sold to someone else. Sadly, this is not something that is uncommon for people to be taken advantage of in the music industry, and Taylor has made a stand to make this a point that this is something that should be observed and looked at and not ignored as it has been for years and years.
When a big superstar like Taylor Swift speaks up about something, people tend to listen. Not only are people listening, but they are supporting her in the process of standing up for young artists in owning the work that they create and put out into the world.
Starting November of last year, Taylor was able to re-record her first 5 albums in a way that the re-recorded versions would then become her own, and she immediately went to work on re-creating these albums.
On top of creating Folklore and Evermore last year, Taylor re-recorded her second studio album Fearless, and was able to put that album out for the world to listen to just last Friday. It has already received a lot of acclaim and even more than that, it is an album that she completely owns.
Taylor is not only standing up for herself by re-recording her albums (not to mention she is also the first artist to do this), but she is also standing up for young singers and songwriters everywhere by encouraging them to not be taken advantage of in record deals and truly own and let flourish the work that is rightfully theres.
