Taylor Swift has presented herself as an advocate of fellow recording artists, even going so far as to include shares of Spotify for them in her 2019 deal with Universal Music Group. She may not be the all the hero her fans believe she is.
Her battle with her initial label, Big Machine and its CEO and her mentor, Scott Borchetta, and music entrepreneur and agent Scooter Braun (Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Arianna Grande) morphed into a battle royale over the rights to her master recordings worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The result of the fisticuffs which started in 2019 and resulted in Taylor’s re-recording four of her first six albums, is presented in a two-part documentary series on Max, Taylor Swift vs. Scooter Braun: Bad Blood. Part Two shows that Taylor may not be acting less out of loyalty to disenfranchised artists or women’s’ rights than getting her hands on the assets she she does not own and did not want to pay market value for.
My full review of the series and perspective can be found in my most recent Intangible Investor column on IPWatchdog. Multiple lawyers and industry experts explain in Part Two of the doc, “Scooter’s Version,” why Taylor had no legal right to the masters, like virtually every other recording artist, so she orchestrated a story for her fans that would belittle their value.
“Bad Blood is a bold and candid indictment of Swift’s tactics and portrays her disregard for a contract that she signed when she had zero leverage and deserved nothing more than standard treatment,”
What this could mean for 99% of artists, newbies with little or no leverage, is a tougher initial deal that locks up their master recordings longer and harder.
A First for Everything
“No major artist had previously invested the time and energy to re-record their catalogue,” Gary R. Greenstein, a technology transactions partner at Wilson Sonsini told a Harvard Law School lunchtime talk, according to Harvard Law Today titled “Taylor’s Version of Copyright,”but Swift’s move paid off, as the new versions were major commercial and critical successes.”
When Greenstein asked the class whether they listened to the originals or to Taylor’s Version, most picked the latter.
“Does that sound good to Shamrock Holdings? [which purchased the rights to the masters from Braun’s Ithaca Holdings],” he asked the group to a negative response.
“Congratulations,” Greenstein said, “You just passed Contracts 101.”
Taylor Swift vs Scooter Braun: Bad Blood, is a bold and candid indictment of Swift’s tactics and portrays her disregard for a contract that she signed when she had zero leverage and deserved nothing more than standard treatment,” I write.
Are those “standard” master recording agreements fair? It depends on who you ask. Record executives fronting artists hundreds of thousands of dollars with historically low chances of payback, believe those assets represent equity for a potential upside they need to compete and fund other artists.
Taylor was presumably under the guidance of her father, a Merrill Lynch banker and investor.
The question is who “bullied” whom in the Swift vs. Braun saga?
To add to the nastiness, her dad owned 3% of Big Machine, given to him for just $125,000. When Big Machine was sold, he made over $15 million. He apparently did not share her distrust of Borchetta and Big Machine. There was no way Swift could win legally. But win she did. Her decision to re-record and market her early six albums is unprecedented and worth hundreds of millions of dollars to her.
Who Bullied Whom?
The question is who “bullied” whom in the Swift vs. Scooter saga? According to Part Two of “Bad Blood,” Swift used her celebrity to push Scooter aside and paint him as an industry baddie out to get her. The response of her fans to the perceived oppressor was so intense that multiple death threats were made on Braun and his family.
There is surprisingly little coverage of this highly watchable mini series on the web and no Rotten Tomatoes rating after more than a week, unusual for a high profile series.
Viewers can easily view both episodes of “Taylor Swift vs. Scooter Braun: Bad Blood” in one sitting. Read my IPWatchdog review here.
Image source: max via mirror.co.uk
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