In June 2019, Braun bought Taylor’s previous record label, Big Machine Records, for over $300 million. A deal that Swift quickly expressed her disapproval of in the form of a long blog post that sparked a lot of arguments on social media from some of the industry’s biggest names including Justin Bieber and Demi Lovato. 

“When I left my masters in Scott’s hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually, he would sell them,” Swift said in her blog post about Scott Borchetta, the previous owner and founder of Big Machine Records. “Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter.”

In this deal, Braun would acquire the masters of Swift’s first six albums from “Taylor Swift” in 2006 all the way to “Reputation” in 2017. It was rumored Swift would have to record one new album to get the rights back for each of her old albums, meaning she would need to release six new albums under Braun’s control in order to rightfully use her old music. If she did not produce what Braun wanted, she would legally not be allowed to perform any of the songs on the albums without Braun’s permission or have any say in where the music could be used.

By then Swift had left Big Machine Records, now producing with Republic Records where she said, “Thankfully, I am now signed to a label that believes I should own anything I create.”

Credit: Albany Student Press

Streaming services should make Taylor's Version buttons on playlists and in libraries to help replace the stolen versions of albums! These could be hidden but also advertised to listeners.