Record Labels Trying to Prevent 'Taylor's Version' Re-Recording Scenarios With New Artists, Lawyers Reveal
Taylor Swift is having a very successful streak with her “Taylor’s Version” re-recordings, which began following a showdown with Scooter Braun and her old record label regarding the sales of her masters.
In a new report on Monday (October 30), Billboard revealed that the major labels, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group, have recently revised contracts for new signees, according to top music attorneys.
In some of the contracts, labels are demanding 10, 15 or even 30 years to re-record releases after leaving their companies.
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“The first time I saw it, I tried to get rid of it entirely,” Josh Karp, a veteran attorney, said of new UMG contracts that he’s seen.
“I was just like, ‘What is this? This is strange. Why would we agree to further restrictions than we’ve agreed to in the past with the same label?’”
Previously, standard major-label recording contracts stated that artists had to wait for either five to seven years from the release date of the original, or two years after the contract expired.
Now, lawyers tell Billboard they are receiving label contracts that expand that period to 10 or 15 years or more.
“It becomes one of a multitude of items you’re fighting,” Josh Karp says.
“I recently did a deal with a very big indie that had a 30-year re-record restriction in it. Which obviously is much longer than I’m used to seeing. I think the majors are also trying to expand their re-record restrictions but in a more measured way — they are generally not yet able to get away with making such extreme changes,” added another lawyer, Gandhar Savur.
Dina LaPolt, a music attorney, said: “Now, because of all this Taylor Swift sh–, we have an even new negotiation. It’s awful. We’re seeing a lot of ‘perpetuity’ sh–. When we were negotiating deals with lawyers, before we would get the proposal,, we’d get the phone call from the head of business affairs. We literally would say, ‘If you send that to me, it will be on f—ing Twitter in 10 minutes.’ It never showed up.”
Some music attorneys see the label’s side of things. Although “the contracts have gotten reasonably artist-friendly over time,” longtime music attorney Don Passman explained, adding, “they don’t want you to duplicate your recordings — like ever — and then they will limit the other types of recordings you can do.”
Josh Binder, an attorney for artists like SZA, adds: “It doesn’t offend me so much. Rarely does it come into play where the re-record treatment is even used. [The labels’] position is, ‘Hey, if we’re going to spend a bunch of money creating this brand with you, then you should not try and create records to compete with us.’ We try and fight it. We try and make it as short as possible. But I don’t find it to be the most compelling issue to fight.”
Find out which record she just beat with 1989 (Taylor’s Version).