Taylor Swift beefs with Big Machine Records about her music catalog

Taylor Swift is going to be honored as the Artist of the Decade on the American Music Awards this coming November 24th, but now she is making it publicly known that her desire to perform a medley of her greatest hits might not happen.

Her former label, Big Machine Records and Scooter Braun owns the rights to her entire catalog other than her recent album, Lover. Swift says that Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun have said that she wasnā€™t allowed to perform her old songs on television because they said that doing so would be re-recording her music before she is allowed to do so in 2020.

According to the 29-year-old superstar, this was not how she envisioned sharing the news with her fans. Swift said that Netflix has been developing a documentary about her life for the past couple of years and according to her, Borchetta and Braun said that they couldnā€™t use her music or performance footage for the documentary. Swift says that there was a clear message being sent to her, to keep quiet or face being punished from the repercussions.

In her statement, she pleaded with her fan base to let Borchetta and Braun know that they support her in this predicament. Swift said that she has attempted to remedy the situation with Braun and Borchetta privately but to no avail. According to her, the Netflix documentary, her AMA performance and other events she had planned out will be in limbo until November of 2020.

Big Machine Records released a statement to ET Canada stating that Swift is lying. They explained that they were shocked when Swift released her statements regarding them and has cleared out that these are false claims made by the singer. Big Machine added that at no point is the singer blocked from performing at the American Music Awards nor is her Netflix documentary in jeopardy. The Record label said that they do not have the right to prevent her from performing live and it was Swift who publicly admitted that she owes them millions of dollars and assets.

The record label also stated that they too have reached out to Swiftā€™s camp many times to try and fix the situation in private but according to them, Swift is preventing that from happening. Big Machine explained that the singer has made a unilateral decision when she divulged the issue in public and enlisting her fan base to side with her. The record label also stated that because of this, the safety of their employees and their families is in jeopardy. Big Machine said that the narrative that Swift has created is nonexistent and they are just asking her and her team for an honest discussion to fix the situation before it becomes worse but Swift and her camp has yet to accept any of their invitations.

Some of Swiftā€™s friends have publicly shown their support like Selena Gomez who went to Instagram and said that the situation makes her feel sick and angry because the whole situation is fueled by greed, manipulation, and power.

Halsey said that she thinks this is punishment and an attempt to silence Swift from speaking about things that could be a detriment to the record label.

Fans on social media have had mixed reactions to the whole situation with a somewhat he said-she said scenario that has yet to be blown wide open. A lot of people donā€™t get the issue, like how both parties have stated that the other doesnā€™t want to talk to the other.

One thing that is fascinating is that Swift said that she canā€™t perform her old songs in the AMAā€™s because it is technically re-recording the music which kind of lends credence that she might be actually the one telling the truth in this situation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1vRZ_DlxAo

Alain Ang
Alain Ang
Alain Ang is an editor for Best in Au. He enjoys writing about entertainment, movies, and lifestyle. On off days he spends his time with his rescue dogs, Sansa and Heart, digging holes in Minecraft, and developing his novel.
Share this

PEOPLE ARE READING NOW