TAYLOR SWIFT DISPUTE
Taylor Swift’s musical path began with country roots, reflected in her self-titled debut album ‘Taylor Swift’, released in 2006. Notably, she has re-recorded her early albums in order to regain possession of her master recordings released between 2006-2017, with Big Machine Records.
Big Machine Records is an American independent record label that grew to prominence in part owing to its relationship with a number of well-known musicians. Big Machine, founded in 2005 by Scott Borchetta, has played a crucial influence in the development of various musicians, most notably Taylor Swift, who signed with the company early in her career. Big Machine Records released Swift’s first six albums.
Dispute between taylor swift and big machine records
Dispute between taylor swift and the big machine records was with regard to the ownership of master recording of the album. Swift recorded six studio albums with Big Machine between 2006 and 2017: Taylor Swift (2006), Fearless (2008), Speak Now (2010), Red (2012), 1989 (2014) and Reputation (2017). Ownership of these albums was with Big Machine label, Borchetta and in June 2019 company was acquired by Scooter Braun for $330 millions with that the ownership of master recording of Taylor’s six albums was also transferred to Scooter Braun.Lately, in november 2019 taylor was prevented from performing her music album at ‘American Music Awards of 2019’ and using her music in as documentary ‘Miss American’.
NOW, What is master recording?
Master recording is the original recording of the sound or piece of music. Master recording is the primary source of the music by which copies and duplicates are made for distribution. Master recordings come with plenty of rights and privileges of right to exploit work and take benefit or gain profits from the sound recordings, power to grant third party licenses, right to reissue or remix the original sound recordings, right of publication and streaming.
During the interview with CBS Sunday morning, Taylor swift stated “going back to the studio to re-record her first studio album. Swift announced to re-record her first six albums, beginning with “Fearless” (originally released in 2008), in order to regain control over her music. “Fearless (Taylor’s Version),” a re-recorded version, was released in April 2021.
And how was it possible to re-record her albums while the ownership of master recording was with the record label?
Re-recording of her music album became possible because Swift was also the song-writer of her songs and she was having the composer’s rights over the recordings and the author’s right over the musical work. Also the new album and songs are identified by the note of Taylor’s version as a new version of the old album. Taylor Swift is able to produce new master recordings for these albums, allowing her control over the use and licensing of her music and the synchronization rights. Swift’s re-recording is a way for her to regain control over her artistic work. Taylor’s contract with big machine records expired in November 2018. Taylor contracted with Universal Music Group and stated she would re-record the music album with Universal Music group and will be the full owner of the albums label with both masters and publishing rights. Taylor Swift is the author of the composition and has reserved that right under a publishing deal because she wrote the song’s lyrics and melody for her music. However, because the songs on her first six albums were recorded under Big Machine Records, she does not own the rights to use them. “Copyright protection gives the owner of copyright in a musical composition the exclusive right to make copies, prepare derivative works, sell or distribute copies, and publicly perform or display the work,” as defined by US copyright law. The owner of the copyright can additionally transfer the exclusive rights to others.” That was the reason the label records prevented Taylor from performing her songs. The limitation period of restriction of re-recording has expired. When it comes to re-recording music, traditional contracts have generally compelled musicians to wait five to seven years after their albums were released, or two years after their contracts expired, to recreate their albums.
Who is an Author?
The author is the person who created music or lyrics as a composer, lyricist or songwriter. Author can emanate benefits by exploiting his work and also have Right to reproduce work, Right to adaptation and translation of work, Right to distribute copies of work or commercial rental, Right to public performance and broadcast work.
There are basically two types of music copyrights created or generated from the sound recording.
- Composer copyright
- Master recording copyright
Composition rights are with the songwriter or author mostly and the master recording copyright are generally with the record labels.
These rights are created WHEN the lyrics are recorded or have been put on paper or document in the composer’s right. And in master recording when once the sound recording is fixed.
When the songwriter and artist are two different people then both of them will be treated as two separate entities.
Authors rights and Copyright in India
In the case of Indian performing right society limited (IPRS) v. Rajasthan Patrika Pvt LTD and IPRS v. Music Broadcast (SCC Online Bom 94), the court identified that the legal position regarding the ownership of authors and composers who create lyrics and musical compositions had precisely changed as a result of the broad amendments made to the Copyright Act 1957 in 2012, which created a substantive right in favor of authors of underlying literary and musical work.
The Copyright (Amendment) Act of 2012 was enacted with the primary goal of creating an equitable and framework for copyright administration and revenue sharing in order to safeguard the rights of writers and owners in cinematography and audio recordings. Copyright protection in India is protected by the Copyright act, 1957. The Copyright Act of 1957 and the Copyright Rules of 2013 govern Indian copyright laws. Section 14 of the 1957 Act defines the term “copyright”. Copyright protection is granted to literary works, theatrical works, musical works, artistic works, cinematograph films, and sound recordings under Section 13 of the Copyright Act 1957.
Copyrights in the United States are entirely governed by federal law and are required to be registered in the United States. In the United States, master recording ownership is an intricate subject that is normally handled by contractual agreements between artists and record labels. In exchange for financial backing, promotion, and distribution of their music, artists frequently sign contracts granting the record label the rights to their master recordings. Disputes may arise when artists want control over their master recordings or when the contract terms are not agreed upon. The same happened with the Taylor Swift dispute with the big machine label.
And if the same dispute had happened in India, the specific contractual terms between the artist and the record label would determine the issue. The Indian legal system would look at contract conditions, rights assigned or retained by the artist, and any provisions relating to master recording ownership and exploitation of master recordings. And by the provisions of the copyright act, 1957 author, the composer (songwriter) has the right to reproduce his work. The legal framework within the music industry and artist-label relationships in India may be similar to that in the United States, but it may also differ due to differences in contract law and intellectual property limitations. Disputes regarding intellectual property rights, especially music copyrights, are likely to be governed by the Copyright Act of 1957 in India.
According to the copyright act, 1957, section 13 defines ‘Work in which copyright subsists’ clause (a) defines original works whereas clause (c) says about sound recordings.
Section 14 of the act defines copyright and mentions the exclusive rights of copyright holders. And in musical works the right to copyright holders are :-
- Right to reproduce
- Right to issue copies
- Right to perform at public
- Right to make cinematography and sound recording
- Right to make any translation
- Right to adaptation
- Right to do any other activities related to the translation or adaptation.
According to the act, the first owner of copyright stated the author to be the first owner of the copyrights and also have the rights in the capacity of author. In musical work the author is the composer of the music. There are two types of right given to the owners, Authors :- Economic rights and Moral rights of the author. Economic right of the author has been discussed in section 14 of the copyright act,1957 above mentioned. Morals right of the author are as ‘Author’s special rights’, Right of paternity, is the right of an author to claim ownership and prevent all others from claiming ownership over their work. Right of integrity, authorises the author to prevent the distortion, mutilation, or other alterations of his work, as well as any other action with relation to said work that would be detrimental to honour or reputation. ‘Term of copyright in sound recording’ in the case of a sound recording, the copyright must last for sixty years from the commencement of the calendar year succeeding the year in which the sound recording is published.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the dispute between Taylor Swift and Big Machine Records over master recording ownership demonstrated the intricacies of music industry contracts and copyright regulations. Taylor Swift’s decision to re-record her albums, beginning with “Fearless (Taylor’s Version),” demonstrated her intention to reclaim creative control over her work. The Indian Copyright Act of 1957 highlighted the rights of authors, composers, and performers in the legal framework within music copyrights. Contractual agreements between artists and record companies play an essential role in establishing ownership and exploitation of master recordings in India, as they are in the United States. Each country’s legal system might have similarities but also differs due to differences in contract law and intellectual property restrictions. Overall, the Taylor Swift case is a significant example of an artist effectively navigating the complexity of the music industry in order to acquire control over their artistic work.
KEYWORDS: Copyright, Author, Master recording, Re-recording, Copyright Act 1957, Authors rights, Reproduce, Composer, Copyright rules of 2013, Copyright (amendment) Act of 2012, Contractual agreements, Artist, Record labels, Intellectual property rights, U.S copyright act.
