This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
And Finally Artist News
Kelly Clarkson tells Taylor Swift to screw over Scooter Braun by creating new masters
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 15 July 2019
Kelly Clarkson is the latest celeb to intervene in the Taylor Swift v Scooter Braun feud, with a relatively late-in-the-day tweet proposing a sneaky trick to overcome the problem of Braun acquiring all of Swift’s master tapes.
Swift, of course, hit out big time when it was recently revealed that artist manager Braun’s Ithaca Holdings had acquired record label Big Machine, which controls the recording rights in all of her albums to date. Braun taking ownership of her recordings was the “worst case scenario”, said Swift, who left Big Machine last year and will work with Universal Music on her future releases.
But worry not, said Clarkson in her tweet this weekend. Yes, Braun’s got all your old master recordings. But why not make some new master recordings? You know, of the same songs. And screw over your former label and its new overlord!
Clarkson wrote: “@taylorswift13 just a thought, you should go in and re-record all the songs that you don’t own the masters on exactly how you did them, but put brand new art and 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”, Clarkson added. What a sneaky little trick that sneaky little one-time American Idol has come up with!
Of course, few sneaky tricks in the music industry are new. And, as a result, many record contracts include re-record restrictions, specifically designed to stop artists doing exactly what Clarkson is proposing. Those restrictions commonly prevent artists from making new recordings of old songs without the label’s permission for a set time.
Also, many artists find that, if they do re-record – either because there were no limitations in their original label deal or the time period in which restrictions apply is up – that it’s actually very hard to recreate the sound and vibe of the originals.
Some artists just make re-records for the purposes of sync deals, where the new version doesn’t have to be 100% the same and often the whole track will never be used anyway. But for a full commercial release, it can be more tricky, even if there are no legal restrictions.
Still, while Clarkson’s idea probably won’t work, top marks for sneakiness! It’s just a shame the record industry’s lawyers got there first.
