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With the launch of Taylor Swift's new album, The Tortured Poets Department, and her insanely successful Eras Tour, the hype around the 34-year-old pop star is more than ever.
However, another important commitment has kept Taylor busy over the last few years. The 34-year-old singer has been releasing re-recorded versions of her old albums, called the 'Taylor's Version,' since 2021. To date, Tay has released the Taylor's Version of four albums: Fearless (2021), Red (2021), Speak Now (2023), and 1989 (2023).
For anyone who might've missed the saga, the Taylor's Version saga started with her long-drawn brawl with Scooter Brawn, and Scott Borchetta over claiming creative rights and regaining ownership of her work from the first ten years of her musical career.
Taylor Swift signed a deal with Scott Borchetta when she was 15 years old, giving Big Machine Records complete ownership of her original recordings till she left the company in 2019.
Taylor Swift's massive feud with Scooter Brawn explained
Taylor Swift signed a deal with Scott Borchetta when she was 15, giving Big Machine Records complete ownership of her original recordings. She remained with Big Machine Records until 2019, after which she switched to Universal Music Group’s Republic Record in a highly publicized deal.
However, after her switch, Taylor was denied the right to buy the master recordings of her previous albums from Big Machine Records. Instead, all rights went to Scooter Braun, who bought Big Machine Records in 2019.
Retaining the master recordings gave Scooter Braun a monopoly over the rights to share, copy, or distribute clones. Any creative or business owner willing to use her songs had to pay Scooter Braun a hefty figure, with Taylor getting nothing out of her own music.
The Scooter-Swift feud allegedly originally started way back when Scooter was Kanye West's manager in 2009. It was the same year in which Kanye infamously snatched the microphone from Taylor Swift and announced that Beyonce deserved the award more than her at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Scooter Braun also managed Kanye West when he released Famous in 2016. Famous ignited the Kanye-Swift controversy even further as it contained controversial lyrics badmouthing Taylor Swift and claiming that Kanye was responsible for her rise to fame. Many people also alleged that Brawn was responsible for influencing people to bully Taylor online.
The sale of Big Machine Records was described as the 'worst-case scenario' for Taylor Swift, who talked about her crisis online. In an emotional Tumblr post, the musician called Scooter and Borchetta poisonous manipulators. She further wrote:
"Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.
Why is Taylor Swift re-recording her old albums?
After Big Machine Records was sold to Scooter Brawn, Taylor Swift took to Twitter to vent her frustration. Her tweets prompted songwriter Kelly Clarkson to suggest she re-record her old albums to escape Scooter Braun's shackles. To encourage people to buy them, she advised Taylor Swift to include unreleased songs in her re-recorded albums.
In 2020, Scooter Braun sold Taylor Swift's master recordings to a private equity firm, which instigated Swift to re-record her old albums as Taylor's Version. These versions are identical to the original, but listening to them will make Swift money and not fill Braun's bank account. Moreover, Swift owns the master copies of these versions and has the right to own the distribution and sharing of the songs.
The first 'Taylor's Version' to be released was Fearless, followed by Red in 2021. These two were followed by Speak Now and 1989 in 2023. In an Instagram post, the Fearless singer wrote,
"Artists should own their own work for so many reasons. But the most screamingly obvious one is that the artist is the only one who really knows that body of work."
Moreover, the entire fiasco opened the eyes of the fans and people in power about the ruthless corporate mechanization of the musical industry.
How is Taylor Swift's Version different from the original song?
Except for minor production updates and an extra decade's worth of maturity in her voice, Taylor's Version songs are identical to the original recordings. Moreover, the 34-year-old has introduced her 'vault,' i.e., an assortment of new songs she didn't release in the original albums.
The vault includes six new songs in Speak Now (Taylor's Version), featuring Paramore's Hayley Williams and Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump. It also contains You All Over Me with Maren Morris. Another significant difference lies in the song's lyrics, Better Than Revenge (Taylor's Version), following years of fan complaints about one line of the song.
However, the true difference lies in the intention behind the entire project. The ruthless corporate manipulation artists face in the industry results in them getting a smaller piece of the pie with the growth of their business.
Taylor Swift's initiative was one step towards ensuring that there will come a time when everyone contributing to making something creative will profit equally from it.
