Taylor Swift ignited a heated debate over artists' rights after it was announced that a company fronted by Scooter Braun would pay $300 million for Big Machine Label Group, which owns the master recordings for six of Swift's albums.
In a lengthy Tumblr post, Swift claimed she was blindsided by the news and wasn't given a chance to buy her masters, adding that Braun has bullied her for years and his owning her work is her "worst case scenario."
In response, Big Machine CEO Scott Borchetta defended the deal, claiming he notified Swift via text message before the announcement and that the last deal memo he sent to Swift, which he posted a partial screenshot of online, would have given the artist ownership of everything she had created — but she rejected the deal in favor of moving her business to Universal Music Group.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, James Sammataro, who co-heads Pryor Cashman's Media + Entertainment Group and represents both artists and companies in the music industry, explained there may be a confidentiality provision that could have been breached when Borchetta posted the proposed deal terms online, but it's just as likely that he could argue Swift breached it first by posting on Tumblr. Still, Sammataro said, "I don't think it's going to result in litigation of any sort."
Sammataro also noted that Swift will still have some control over certain exploitations of her masters that require permission from the owner of the underlying composition. For example, a film studio can't license "Shake It Off" for a movie without the green light from both Braun and Swift. And public pressure arising from this situation might make Braun think twice about exploiting her work in ways she wouldn't be happy with, even if he's within his rights to do so.
"Any time Taylor brings attention to an issue it gets magnified," Sammataro said, noting how Swift successfully nudged Apple in 2015 to change how it pays for music. "She has a very loud megaphone and she's not afraid to use it. She's had great success in effectuating change."
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