Why Taylor Swift Re-Recording Her Albums is Significant

Taylor Swift is one of the biggest pop stars in the world right now. With a consistent output that has given her millions of fans around the world and she's released some of the most iconic pop songs in the 21st Century. Last year her album Folklore was an incredible success, breaking streaming records and showing yet another side to her artistry.

It was a surprise to some then when she announced Fearless (Taylor's Version), a re-recording of her 2008 album. Yet for some time in the background there have been rights disputes around who owns the copyright to Taylor's original versions. Her first record deal was with Big Machine, a company who were later sold to a group owned by industry powerhouse Scooter Braun who then sold her masters again, meaning that he would now be making money from Taylor's music.

Taylor has since moved to universal but all her recordings up until 2018 are now owned by Scooter Braun, allowing him to earn a profit off of them. In defiance of this and with Taylor believing quite rightly that artists should own their own work, she has started to re-record all of her old albums in order to be fully able to control all the rights and earn more from the royalties. So often, artists are screwed over by record label deals that constrict their rights and end up leaving the people around them with more control than they have themselves.

So, Fearless (Taylor's Version) was released in April 2021 and this week we will be receiving Red (Taylor's Version), featuring updates on classics such as I Knew You Were trouble and 22. There are even special guests such as Phoebe Bridgers, yet one of the most appealing aspects of these re-recordings is that you can feel within them the love that Taylor has felt in revisiting them and these songs now sound even better than they did before.

If you're looking for some live music check out our Live page. If you want to head out to a festival in 2022, then head over to our Festival Finder.