That’s because the record labels do everything they can to mitigate the risk of signing a new artist, which can be an investment worth thousands to millions of dollars. Generally, record labels are going to start out offering a deal that is most advantageous to themselves and it’s up to the artist’s attorney to negotiate better terms. “Most record labels want you to have an attorney representing you, because they don’t want their artists coming back and saying, ‘we didn’t really understand what we were getting into,’” says Gorder. Gorder says an artist protecting themselves is in the best interest of the record company and the musician. This can mean you’ll need a bit more money, whether you need to (responsibly) take out a loan or drive an Uber. Butler says do whatever you need to do to make sure that your rights are protected. If you can’t afford a lawyer and you don’t understand the ramifications of the record agreement, then you shouldn’t be entering into that agreement. Have an Attorney Presentīutler and Gorder are firm that legal representation is a must when it comes to signing a record agreement. Taylor Swift was honored as Artist of the Decade at the 2019 American Music Awards where she sang a set of her old and new songs.īutler and Gorder have some tips to keep in mind if you’re signing a record contract: 1. Even if very few artists become as famous as a Taylor Swift, it’s the kind of thing that you really need to prepare for and recognize what you’re getting into.” “I think she’s bringing issues to the forefront that most artists presume to be standard and that may not affect them initially, but could affect them if they become famous. “People are looking at it as if she might be selfish or narcissistic: I actually disagree with that,” says Butler, who is also Assistant Chair of the Music Business/Management Department at Berklee College of Music. The point of this is for the record label to earn the money back on their initial investment on an artist. While Butler agrees that the law is on the side of Big Machine, she says Swift is raising awareness for other artists about the long-term ramifications of record contracts. This means that you are commissioned to record an album for the label and the label owns the rights to those songs for a certain number of years. Tonya Butler, a former entertainment attorney and record label executive and current Berklee Online course author, says that when entering a traditional record agreement, you are essentially a worker for hire. There is a legal, contractual issue here, and the law is on the side of Big Machine, whether it seems right or not.”
“But when you dig down a little bit deeper, you realize that there’s a little bit more to it than that. “On the surface it does look unfair,” says Don Gorder, chair and founder of the Music Business/Management Department at Berklee. Taylor Swift addresses record contracts in her acceptance speech as Billboard’s Woman of the Decade. She voiced her discouragement with Big Machine in a tweet leading up to her aforementioned crowning moments: her performance at the American Music Awards and in her acceptance speech as Billboard’s Woman of the Decade. (While re-recordings are generally an exercise in diminishing returns, if anybody can buck that trend, it’s Taylor Swift). In order to regain ownership of her music, Swift will re-record her first five albums when the contractual constraint is lifted in November 2020. In 2019, Ithaca Holdings bought Big Machine and inherited the masters to Swift’s six albums. She ended her contract with Big Machine in 2018 and signed with Universal Music Group where she produced her seventh album, Lover.
Swift signed with Big Machine Records in 2005 as a teenager and produced her first six albums under their label. But even with the massive clout she has achieved, Swift is still fighting to gain control of her music and using her platform to help fellow artists avoid a similar fate. From 2009 to 2019, Swift crossed over from a country star to a preeminent figure in pop music. Originally posted November 2019: Taylor Swift capped off her domination of the 2010s by being honored as Artist of the Decade at the American Music Awards and Woman of the Decade by Billboard. She declined the offer to work with them when she discovered that Scooter Braun of Big Machine would still benefit from the deal, stating that she is going forward with her re-recording schedule.
Earlier this month, Swift wrote on Twitter that she had learned her masters were sold for the second time to a private equity holding company called Shamrock Holdings.
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