Taylor Swift's battle against Scooter Braun rages on, but Kelly Clarkson may have found a solution.
The music industry first went into a tailspin late last month when Swift took to Tumblr to call out the music manager for being part of the bullying against her following the Kim Kardashian and Kanye West drama. It's because of this that she was horrified to learn that he is now the owner of Big Machine Records, Swift's former label, and therefore the owner of all her work up until her recent Lover singles, which were recorded under Republic Records.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
"Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it," she wrote in the post, adding, "This is my worst case scenario. " However, Clarkson thinks she may have found a work-around, and told Swift her plan over Twitter.
"Just a thought, U should go in & re-record all the songs that U don’t own the masters on exactly how U did them but put brand new art & some kind of incentive so fans will no longer buy the old versions," she wrote. "I’d buy all of the new versions just to prove a point."
@taylorswift13 just a thought, U should go in & re-record all the songs that U don’t own the masters on exactly how U did them but put brand new art & some kind of incentive so fans will no longer buy the old versions. I’d buy all of the new versions just to prove a point ??♀️
— Kelly Clarkson (@kellyclarkson) July 13, 2019
In the wake of Swift's post, everyone from former Big Machine label head Scott Borchetta to Braun's wife made claims about how the deal went down, including that Swift apparently was offered an opportunity to own her masters, but Swift's lawyer Donald Passman told People in a statement that "Scott Borchetta never gave Taylor Swift an opportunity to purchase her masters, or the label, outright with a check in the way he is now apparently doing for others." Instead, as Swift wrote in her post, she was offered a deal to buy back her masters by "earning" one album for every new album she created, but walked away.
As for Clarkson's suggestion, it's unclear if re-recording is something Swift would legally be allowed to do based on her existing contract with BMR, but it's a compelling answer to a problem that appears to have no other solution. Right now, however, Swift is all-in on promoting Lover, which drops August 23.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT