Taylor Swift is having a very successful streak with her re-recordings of “Taylor’s Version,” which began after a dispute with Scooter Braun and her former record label over sales of her masters.
In a new report on Monday (Oct. 30), Billboard revealed that major record labels Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group have recently reviewed contracts for new signees, according to top music lawyers.
In some of the contracts, labels require 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 completely,” Josh Karp, a veteran attorney, said of the new UMG contracts he saw.
“I was like, ‘What is this? This is strange. Why would we accept more restrictions than we agreed to in the past with the same label?’”
Previously, standard major label recording contracts stated that artists had to wait five to seven years from the release date of the original, or two years after the contract expired.
Now the lawyers say Billboard they are receiving label contracts that extend that period to 10 or 15 years or more.
“It becomes one of the many elements you’re struggling with,” says Josh Karp.
“I recently made a deal with a very big indie that had a 30-year restriction on re-recording. Which is obviously a lot longer than I’m used to seeing. I think the big companies are also trying to expand their restrictions on repeat registrations, but in a more measured way; in general, they still cannot get away with making such extreme changes,” added another lawyer, Gandhar Savur.
Dina LaPolt, a music lawyer, said: “Now, because of all this Taylor Swift shit, we have an even new negotiation. It is awful. We’re seeing a lot of ‘perpetuity’ bullshit. When we were negotiating agreements with lawyers, before receiving the proposal, we would receive the phone call from the head of commercial affairs. We would literally say, ‘If you send me that, it will be on Twitter in 10 minutes.’ She never showed up.”
Some music lawyers see the label side of things. Although “the contracts have become reasonably favorable to artists over time,” veteran music lawyer Don Passman explained, adding, “they don’t want you to duplicate your recordings, as always, and then they will limit the other types of recordings you can make “. do.”
Josh Binder, a lawyer for artists like SZA, adds: “It doesn’t offend me that much. It rarely comes into play when re-recording treatment is even used. [The labels’] The position is: ‘Hey, if we’re going to spend a ton of money creating this brand with you, then you shouldn’t try to make records to compete with us.’ We try to fight against it. We try to keep it as brief as possible. But I don’t think it’s the most pressing issue to wrestle with.”
Find out what record you just broke 1989 (Taylor version).
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn