The reason Taylor Swift puts “(Taylor’s Version)” at the end of every album or movie

We read it in some of their albums, in many songs and even in the Eras Tour movie released on Disney+. Taylor Swift has been using the term “for months now.”(Taylor’s version)in many of his projects, such as re-recordings of the albums “Fearless”, “Speak Now”, “Red” or “1989”, or in singles such as “All Too Well (10-minute version)”. Interestingly, not all albums or audiovisual content created or directed by the singer bear this surname. But, What exactly does this mean?

Swift first began using the term “(Taylor’s Version)” in 2021, following the release of the album Fearless (Taylor’s Version).” But the story began several years ago. In particular, in 2018, when the singer signed a contract with the record company Republic Records (owned by Universal Music) for terminate the agreement with Big Machine RecordsUpon learning that his previous label, where he recorded his first six studio albums: Taylor Swift (his debut album), Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 and Reputation, he was bankrupt and was looking for a buyer.

Swift, by signing with Big Machine, also transferred the rights to these albums to the label with the caveat that You banned from re-recording their songs for several years after their release. In a letter on her Tumblr profile, the singer said that she spent years negotiating with Skut Brocheta (CEO of Big Machine) to be able to buy her work without it ending up in other hands, but she gave up after unfavorable conditions. he offered her a record label.

In 2019, a few months after signing with Universal, Big Machine decided to sell its label for $300 million to Ithaca Holdings, owned by Scooter Braun, a businessman and producer, and who bullied Taylor Swift on social media after the scandal with Kanye West. The sale also includes the rights to these first six albums.

Big Machine Bans Taylor Swift from Singing or Using Her Music

In the same letter in which she announced her intention to buy her masters, Swift mentioned that He did not know that Scott Brocheta (founder of Big Machine Label Group) was going to sell ownership of the albums to Brown. “Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine that the buyer would be Scooter. Every time Scott Borchetta heard the words “Scooter Braun” come out of my mouth, I cried or tried to hold it in. He knew what he was doing; They both knew it. They controlled a woman who did not want to communicate with them,” he said.

After the news Taylor Swift confirms plans to re-record all of her albums to regain the rights to them, but he continues to try to get his works back through his team, who even offered to buy them from Scooter Braun himself.

Meanwhile Big Machine Label Group did not allow Swift to perform live or use her songs signed to the label for other projects, such as a documentary that Netflix was preparing; about which the singer complained publicly. He even asked his fans to help pressure Borchetta and Brown into letting him use their songs.

Big Machine later issued a statement accusing Taylor Swift of lying about not being able to use her songs. “We never said Taylor couldn’t perform at the American Music Awards (AMAs) or block her Netflix special. In fact, we have no right to prevent him from performing live anywhere,” the label said. Big Machine also claimed that Taylor owed the company “contractually millions of dollars and numerous assets” because she was responsible for 120 employees for whom the artist was responsible.

Taylor’s team refuted Big Machine’s claims, sharing part of a now-deleted message in which the label stated that “BMLG will not agree to license existing recordings or waive its re-recording restrictions on these two projects: the Netflix documentary and the Alibaba Double Eleven event.” . They also revealed that it was the record company that owed Swift millions of dollars in unpaid royalties.

“If there’s something next to it that says (Taylor’s Version) in parentheses, that means it’s my property.”

In another letter published in 2020, the singer said that in return Brown “demanded an iron-clad confidentiality agreement” that stated I would never say anything bad about him. Brown later sold Taylor’s albums to an investment firm, which later discovered that one of the conditions of the sale was do not inform the singer about it until it is completed. Swift tried to buy her masters through a new company, but backed out when she learned that Braun would continue to profit from her old catalogue.

In the same letter, Taylor Swift confirmed that she had begun re-recording her albums with the goal of taking ownership of her music again. A few months later, in February 2021, he announced his first re-recording of “Fearless” and said that it would use the term (Taylor’s version). to differentiate it from the original album And Let her fans know that this is a version that she herself owns the rights to.

The singer herself recently stated this in an interview with the American program Late Nigh: “If next to it there is something written in brackets (Taylor’s Version), then it belongs to me.”

Since then, Taylor has released covers of his early albums, including “Red (Taylor Version)”, “Speak Now (Taylor Version)” and “1989 (Taylor Version)”. In all re-recorded songs, this surname is also placed after the title.

Taylor and most of all her fans also use other terms to refer to re-recordings.

• Taylor’s version (or TV, for short): to distinguish those re-recorded albums that are your property.
• Stolen version: a term fans use to refer to the original albums, as it refers to the fact that the albums were stolen from Swift.

On some tracks of their re-recorded albums you can also read ‘From the Warehouse’. This is Taylor’s name for songs she originally wrote for her first albums that were eventually scrapped.

However, There are other recent Taylor Swift albums that have no nomenclature. Taylor’s version: for example, her albums “Folklore” or “Midnights”. This is because there is no other edition of this Scooter Braun album, and since they are signed to Republic Records, it has the rights to these albums.

In any case, this term has become a recognizable seal and part of your brand, which leads Taylor to also use it to distinguish between other versions. For example, the Disney+ movie Eras Tour uses the phrase “(Taylor’s Version)” because it’s an extended cut of the movie the singer released in theaters and on Blu-ray.