Taylor Swift missed out on the chance to purchase the rights to her master recordings because she refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement with the new boss of her old record label.
Music mogul Scooter Braun has sold off Swift’s back catalogue, as part of a new deal with bosses at an investment group, for a reported $300 million (£227 million). Now Swift has admitted she tried to buy back the recordings from her first six albums.
“So, I would have to sign a document that would silence me forever before I could even have a chance to bid on my own work,” she explained in a new letter to fans.
“My legal team said that this is absolutely NOT normal, and they’ve never seen an NDA like this presented unless it was to silence an assault accuser by paying them off,” she went on, adding: “He (Braun) would never even quote my team a price. These master recordings were not for sale to me.”
Taylor claimed she didn’t even know about the sale until officials at a private equity company contacted her and suggested a partnership.
“A few weeks ago my team received a letter from a private equity company, called Shamrock Holdings, letting us know that they had bought 100% of my music, videos, and album art from Scooter Braun,” Swift disclosed, noting: “This was the second time my music had been sold without my knowledge.”
She continued: “The letter told me that they wanted to reach out before the sale to let me know, but that Scooter Braun had required that they make no contact with me or my team, or the deal would be off… I learned that under their terms Scooter Braun will continue to profit off my old musical catalog for many years.”
Swift also shared she has begun “re-recording my older music”, so she can claim back the rights, adding: “It has already proven to be both exciting and creatively fulfilling”.
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