In case you missed it, Taylor Swift released a new song this week. It’s called “Love Story.” Or, to be more precise, “Love Story (Taylor’s Version).” Confused? Don’t be. For the uninitiated, this is the result of a years-long legal dispute between Taylor Swift and the people who own the masters (official original recordings) to her first six albums, which includes: Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, and Reputation. One of the dirty secrets of the music industry is that these million-dollar record labels basically get to keep the rights to artists’ masters, which is where future copies of said music comes from, like CDs, streams, and vinyls. Swift believes artists should be able to own their own music. Unfortunately, when she was just 13 she signed a deal with Big Machine Records, owned by Scott Borchetta, which gave them the rights to her first six albums. In 2017, with the release of her sixth studio album Reputation, Swift’s contract with Big Machine expired, allowing her to sign with Republic Records. The difference this time is Republic Records allowed Swift to own the masters to her albums, which so far include Lover, folklore, and evermore.
In June 2019, Big Machine Records was acquired by record executive Scooter Braun, who manages artists like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande. Swift responded with a Tumblr post in which she claims she pleaded for years for a chance to own her masters, but was given an deal she refused to accept: Big Machine Records would give her the masters to each of her previous albums for each new album she records for the company. She refused, knowing Borchetta would sell the company, thus selling her future. To make matters worse, Swift and Braun didn’t exactly have the best relationship. Swift says in her Tumblr post “All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his [Scooter Braun] hands for years. Like when Kim Kardashian orchestrated an illegally recorded snippet of a phone call to be leaked and then Scooter got his two clients together to bully me online about it. (See photo) Or when his client, Kanye West, organized a revenge porn music video which strips my body naked. Now 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. . . When I left my masters in Scott’s hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words ‘Scooter Braun’ escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to. He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn’t want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever.”
Which why we’re here today, with Swift having no choice but to re-record her first six albums so she can finally own her music (basically, the workaround to not owning your masters is to re-record your music so you own those versions of your music). She is releasing her first re-recorded album in April, called Fearless (Taylor’s Version). Until then, stream “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” and get rid of the original “Love Story” from your playlist. And do the same once Taylor’s version of Fearless comes out.
With the success and power that she has as an artist, Swift is no stranger to using her influence to impact the record company in the name of artists’ rights. Apple famously changed their Apple Music policy in 2015 after she wrote an open letter taking issue with the company’s policy of not paying artists anything for any streams during the streaming service’s three-month free trial. And her new contract with Republic Records affects thousands of other artists: if Universal Music Group (Republic Records’s parent company) ever sells its shares in Spotify, which all three “Big Three” record labels (Universal, Sony, and Warner) have a stake in, every artist signed with them will receive proceeds from the sale.
Armie Update
Armie Hammer just can’t catch a break, huh? Last week he was dropped by his agency WME. This follows weeks of controversy, which includes graphic texts he’s allegedly sent women over social media, rape and cannibal fantasies, abuse allegations from previous women he’s dated, and dropping out of upcoming films and TV series.
Gina Carano got fired. This is the way.
This week, Disney finally, finally fired The Mandalorian star and transphobic bigot Gina Carano after she posted anti-Semitic comments and conspiracy theories on social media. And on the very same day, Carano’s Mandalorian co-star and lead actor Pedro Pascal celebrated his sister coming out as transgender, as well as his hiring for HBO’s adaptation of the hit video game The Last of Us. Now, Carano is working on a new film with right-wing political commentator man-child Ben Shapiro. Rolls eyes.
Emily in Paris Prank
Stand-up comedian and writer Abby Govindan wrote a shit-post on Twitter that quickly snowballed into a whole thing, in which she joked about being the creator of Netflix’s hit series Emily in Paris—and the media believed her! It makes you wonder about the sad state of media in which publications race to be the fastest to announce breaking news without fact-checking first. You can follow what happened below:
What I Watched
1/31: Love & Basketball
I decided to watch this 2000s classic because I was so impressed by director Gina Prince-Bythewood’s work in Netflix’s hit film The Old Guard.
2/2: The Circus (Season 6, Episode 4)
2/5: The White Tiger; WandaVision (Episode 5)
The White Tiger is worth watching! It’s pretty good for a Netflix film.
2/6: Too Many Cooks; First Cow
2/7: Birds of Prey; Framing Britney Spears
You can watch Framing Britney Spears on Hulu (it’ll make you sad). And Justin Timberlake finally apologized to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson after this documentary debuted.
2/8: MTV’s Following: Bretman Rock (Episode 1)
2/9: The Hike*; The Unknown*; Graduation*; Blind Chance*
2/11: I’m Thinking of Ending Things
2/12: WandaVision (Episode 6); Judas and the Black Messiah; The Queen’s Gambit (Episode 1)
Judas and the Black Messiah is an absolute MUST-SEE film about the real-life tragic assassination and betrayal of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton at just 21 years old. It’s for sure going to remain one of the best films of 2021. You can watch it on HBO Max or in theatres (please don’t watch it in theatres).
2/13: The Queen’s Gambit (Episodes 2-7)
*these are all short films I watched because I’m helping to curate an upcoming virtual film festival
Too Many Cooks, Too Many Cooks…
In stumbled upon this 2014 short film called Too Many Cooks because there was a scene in the fifth episode of WandaVision that was likened to the short. I’d never heard of the short before but apparently it went viral after debuting on Adult Swim seven years ago. I highly recommend you check out the entire short! And I mean the entire short. It’s only 11 minutes, but because of certain editing choices you might feel compelled to stop watching a couple minutes in, but you should definitely watch it all. It’s weird, disturbing, kinda funny, but brilliant all at once. David Dims of The Atlantic wrote “It's the classic anti-comedy premise of taking so long with something that it goes from being funny, to being not very funny, to being boring, to suddenly becoming hilarious again.” You can watch the short on YouTube here.
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