A Victory For Taylor Swift; Education For Musicians

You know what? Good for her! Taylor Swift finally owns the rights to her first six albums. This is the biggest story in music for the week (month) so we might as well discuss here.

Taylor Swift has fought years to get the rights to her music back. When her former label Big Machine was sold in 2019, along with the deal went the master recordings to her first six albums. Investor Scooter Braun acquired the masters when he bought Big Machine. He later sold the masters to investor firm Shamrock Capital for $300 million. Swift was able to buy back her music from Shamrock Capital for an undisclosed price, but she did admit the success of the Eras tour is what enabled her to make the purchase.

Owning the master recordings of songs gives artists more control and ability to leverage their product for fees from licensing deals.

I've always thought it was scummy that most musicians do not own their master recordings. It may have made more sense in the beforetimes when everything cost a fortune - especially studio time - and new acts needed label money to get going. We've all read the horror stories of our favorite bands being in label debt for years, even after having hit releases. With streaming, things are quite different and now anyone can produce an album with some software and a laptop.

The hot thing for big musicians to do these days is to sell their catalogs for a huge lump-sum, forgoing royalties in the future. That is different from owning master recordings but is still a way for an artist to cash in on a designated amount of money. The thing with the Taylor Swift dispute is just how smartly she fought the Braun deal - vowing to re-record those first six albums. These re-recordings are known as "Taylor's Version" and were massively successful. A smart play to hit back where she could. It's a wonder we don't see more artists do this, except for the fact that it is expensive and you need to be in top form musically to pull it off.

Of the big bands we love, Motley Crue owned their master recordings from their Elektra days. It is mentioned in The Dirt but what the band had to do to get them was never exactly revealed. They eventually sold their entire catalog to BMG in 2021 for $150 million.

U2 and Metallica also own their masters. Both those catalogs are worth a fortune!

Ticketmaster In The Hot Seat

Ticketmaster officials faced a grilling on Capitol Hill this morning as lawmakers grilled them about unfair ticketing practices and having a monopoly on the industry. This is all coming to a head because so many fans were screwed out of buying tickets for Taylor Swift's upcoming tour. Ticketmaster absolutely could not handle the demand and then the outrage and news stories began.

But don't worry, Joe Berchtold, Live Nation CEO apologized to all of you and they swear they absolutely do not have a monopoly on the ticket business (Live Nation is the parent company of Ticketmaster). I'm totally sure $1,000 an-hour lawyers did not prepare Berchtold's speech and he definitely wasn't wearing a custom-tailored suit either. He is a man of the people, just sitting online in a Ticketmaster queue, trying to get seats like the rest of us. He's a total Swiftie.

"We apologize to the fans. We apologize to Ms. Swift."

Top executives in the ticketing industry are facing the Senate Judiciary Committee after Ticketmaster’s breakdown last year during a sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets. https://t.co/ivF7eyC0Sp pic.twitter.com/UT1Ue5nUSC

— The Associated Press (@AP) January 24, 2023

Will this go anywhere? Who knows. It is going to take a lot more than one hearing to make something happen here, but it does look like there's some momentum. Also, the CEO of SeatGeek says Ticketmaster / Live Nation should definitely be split up. I'm personally shocked a competitor feels that way. Shocked, I tell you.

SeatGeek CEO Jack Groetzinger called to break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation during the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing following the #TaylorSwift ticket debacle. https://t.co/z8OqGOmcbN

— billboard (@billboard) January 24, 2023

Let's just hope something positive happens here. Can we at least put a cap on the insane fees? On the endless bots? The crazy reselling of seats so Ticketmaster makes money twice on each show? Stay tuned I guess. I'm going back to drinking coffee and listening to Steely Dan. Bah humbug. Oh and Pearl Jam was right.

Senator Amy Klobuchar has scrutinized Live Nation and Ticketmaster for years. Live Nation claims they're not a monopoly. Will this morning's major Senate hearing increase calls for the company's breakup or solidify their position? https://t.co/vJfs8aeLl7

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) January 24, 2023

Ticketmaster Pisses People Off (Again)

Democratic Congresswoman from New York Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said today at Ticketmaster is monopoly. She isn't wrong. Apparently Taylor Swift tickets went on sale today and the process was bonkers and frustrating for folks that tried to get seats. Also, the Ticketmaster waiting room (which I hate) just sat and didn't advance. Then Ticketmaster apparently crashed.

Daily reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly, it’s merger with LiveNation should never have been approved, and they need to be reigned in.

Break them up.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 15, 2022

Ticketmaster was totes surprised that so many folks wanted to see Taylor live.

Ticketmaster issues statement for the sheer amount of fans trying to buy Taylor Swift tickets. pic.twitter.com/wbahW9UDyd

— Eric Alper 🎧 (@ThatEricAlper) November 15, 2022

when taylor swift wrote “the great war” she was actually preparing us for the Battle of Ticketmaster. her mind!

— ellie schnitt (@holy_schnitt) November 15, 2022

Shouldn't Ticketmaster know to ramp up server capacity before launching a Taylor Swift pre-sale?

Even rich folks with connections couldn't score tickets!

Current parenthood situation. Getting a full dose of the Taylor Swift concert @Ticketmaster presale fiasco. Going on hour four! pic.twitter.com/ZpBHkVoU4S

— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) November 15, 2022

Oh and since we're talking about Taylor (sort of), she was nominated for a bunch more Grammy Awards today. 46 total over her career, actually. Who would have guessed so many people would want to see her live? I'm shocked I tell you, shocked. 

.@taylorswift13 is now a 46x #GRAMMYs nominee.

Full nominations list here: https://t.co/6khuQ7VRaH pic.twitter.com/YSYIQ0zCGI

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) November 15, 2022