#Big Machine Records

[justinsentertainmentcorner]

Laura Snapes at The Guardian:

Taylor Swift has bought back the master recordings to her first six albums, giving her control over her entire catalogue for the first time. “I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away,” she wrote in a letter to fans. “But that’s all in the past now. All of the music I’ve ever made … now belongs … to me.” She originally lost the rights in 2019 when her first record label, Big Machine, sold them to music executive Scooter Braun. Swift described the sale to Braun as her “worst case scenario”, and said she had not been given the opportunity to buy her work outright, but to “earn” one album back for each new album she recorded for the label. Her subsequent albums, from 2019’s Lover onwards, were released on Republic, with Swift retaining the rights to the master recordings.

Braun at one time managed Kanye West, who repeatedly targeted Swift after he infamously invaded her acceptance speech at the 2009 VMA awards. In November 2020, Braun sold the master recordings to the private equity firm Shamrock Capital in November for a reported $300m. In a letter to fans posted today, Swift said that she bought her masters – as well as her videos, concert films, album art and photography and unreleased songs – back from Shamrock. The Guardian understands that previous rumours that it cost Swift between $600m and $1bn are inaccurately high.

As was customary for record deals at the time, Swift’s arrangement with Big Machine meant that they owned her master recordings, hence she did not own them at the point of sale. In her letter, she wrote: “All I’ve ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to one day purchase my music outright with no strings attached, no partnership, with full autonomy. “I will be forever grateful to everyone at Shamrock Capital for being the first people to ever offer this to me. The way they’ve handled every interaction we’ve had has been honest, fair and respectful. This was a business deal to them, but I really felt like they saw it for what it was to me: my memories and my sweat and my handwriting and my decades of dreams. I am endlessly thankful. My first tattoo might just be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead.” Swift credited the support of her fans with enabling her to buy back her music. “I can’t thank you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but have never owned until now.”

In order to regain control over her catalogue after the original sale to Braun – and to devalue his investment – Swift embarked on a project to rerecord all six albums, branding each one “(Taylor’s Version)” and adding “From the Vault” tracks from the original songwriting sessions that hadn’t made it on to the original albums. Between 2021 and 2023, Swift rerecorded her albums Fearless (originally released in 2008), Red (2012), Speak Now (2010) and 1989 (2014). As the principal songwriter, she has the right to rerecord the material and to block any use of the original recordings. Several rerecorded songs made their debuts in film and TV syncs: last week, the new version of Look What You Made Me Do – from the as-yet unreleased rerecording of 2017’s Reputation – appeared in the new series of The Handmaid’s Tale.

Reputation and Swift’s self-titled debut album, from 2006, are the only albums not to be rerecorded. Fans have been speculating as to their possible release dates for years, leaping on the colours of her outfits and what they perceive to be clues in her limited social media posts to deduce when they would appear.

[...] The rerecordings were interspersed with a run of new, original recordings. Swift has released four albums since 2020: her lockdown sister records Folklore and Evermore (2020), as well as Midnights (2022) and The Tortured Poets Department (2024). Swift’s monumentally successful catalogue was showcased on her Eras tour, which travelled the world between 2023 and 2024, became the first ever billion dollar-grossing tour, and eventually grossed more than $2bn in total. The show was divided into album-specific segments, and updated when it hit Europe in 2024 to include a new Tortured Poets section.

Take that, Scooter Braun! Taylor Swift bought back the rights to the master recordings of her first 6 albums that were released on Big Machine Records (Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, and reputation). Of those 6 Big Machine albums, 4 have been re-recorded as “(Taylor’s Version)” (Fearless, Red, Speak Now, and 1989).

[danyxpop]

💋🔥🔥🔥Taylor Swift: "Bad Blood" ft. Kendrick Lamar Was Released 10 Years Ago Today!!!🔥🔥🔥💋

[fayvpor]

big machine records? “the smallest record company that ever lived”

[thepermanentrainpress]

Gallery: The Struts @ Commodore Ballroom - Vancouver, BC Date: November 27, 2023 Photographed by: Josh Papalia

[happinessoncorneliastreet]

18 years ago, @taylorswift signing her FIRST record deal with Big Machine Records.

— At the age of 15.

[slrmagazine]

Carly Pearce Releases hummingbird: no rain, no flowers. #carlypearce @carlypearce

[andrea-taylorsversion]

Have to put my photoshop skills to good use lmao 🪑

@taylorswift

[rockposerdotcom]

Daughtry Releases Heavy New Single 'Artificial'

Rock outfit Daughtry are back and better than ever with a new label and their first original material in over two years. The recent Big Machine Records signees usher in a fresh sonic era with the brawny and brooding ‘Artificial’, an aurally epic track that warns about the dangers of heart and soul lost in an artificially intelligent world. Driven by frontman Chris Daughtry’s singular vocal…

[infamous-if]

Something that I have been wondering about is whether G would still be famous if they had never joined Misfit alley but still been signed on the record label. Same goes for MA without G. Would things be much different for them?

I believe G still would’ve gotten famous. The label threw their entire weight behind G. G feels like a Taylor swift/Justin Bieber situation in which they’re a young artist that had a lot of faith behind them.

The other labels had their own “next big thing” and Heavenly Isle wanted to compete. They were up and coming at the time and had quite a few artists in their rosters but nothing huge. I like to think Heavenly Isle is the Infamous version of Fueled by Ramen (if you know that label) in which most of their artists were alternative or at least doing non-poppy music. They wanted to expand and compete with labels like Carolina Records, which were the big guys at the time. With G’s help, Heavenly Isle was able to expand more and more. They didn’t anticipate it much but when G blew up, it was like validation for the company.

G sounds arrogant saying that they helped create what Heavenly Isle has become but I think that’s an accurate assessment.

So yeah :) I think the members of Misfit Alley would all be in different bands though…and definitely not as famous. Likely nowhere near.

[ptxweekly]

PENTATONIX is officially signed with Republic Records!

[kingofmyborrowedheart]

Need the following artists to be featured on the Taylor Swift (Taylor Version) vault.

LeAnn Rimes

Shania Twain

Faith Hill (Her husband can come along too, I guess)

Dolly Parton

Kelsea Ballerini

[petals-armor]

Does anyone know if How Big How Blue How Beautiful deluxe is on vinyl or if it’s just the regular version? I can’t find it anywhere for the life of me

[thepermanentrainpress]

Gallery: Brantley Gilbert @ Rogers Arena - Vancouver, BC Date: June 28, 2023 Photographed by: Tom Russell

[happinessoncorneliastreet]

18 years ago, @taylorswift signing her FIRST record deal with Big Machine Records.

— At the age of 15.

[slrmagazine]

Chase McDaniel Bares His Soul In Soaring New Release "Burned Down Heaven"

Chase McDaniel Bares His Soul In Soaring New Release "Burned Down Heaven". #chasemcdaniel @chasemcmusic

Kentucky-bred singer-songwriter Chase McDaniel returns with “Burned Down Heaven” – a beautifully devastating portrait of loss and regret. Out now via Big Machine Records, the epic but intimate power ballad is accompanied by an enthralling music video from the fast-ascending Country artist. Listen to “Burned Down Heaven” here, and check out the Robby Stevens-directed music video below. Watch the…

[dovebuffy92]

🎵St Jude, we lay in bed as she whipped around us

St Jude, maybe I've always been more comfortable in chaos🎵

- Written by Florence Welch (singer songwriter, musican, frontwoman of FATM) & James Ford (songwriter, record producer, and remixer)