Taylor Swift Recent Success Affecting Other Artists and Record Labels

Transcript

00:00 Moving on over to Taylor Swift, because record labels are introducing new changes to their

00:03 contracts inspired by Taylor.

00:06 She's changing the game all over the place.

00:07 So in light of her success, labels are ready to enact new clauses to prevent future artists

00:12 from devaluing their original work.

00:15 So major record companies such as Universal, Sony, and Warner Music Group are set to introduce

00:20 stricter contract terms for artists demanding longer waiting periods before they can re-record

00:25 their music.

00:26 These waiting periods, typically 5-7 years from the release date of the original or 2

00:31 years after the contract expires, have now been extended to 10, 15, or even 30 years.

00:36 However, some artists and their attorneys are pushing back against these new restrictions.

00:41 So will the record labels or will the artists win out in this?

00:45 Because if you're pushing re-recordings 10, 15, 30 years later, people may sound completely

00:52 different.

00:53 You know, it just seems like they are just trying to push this off as far as they can,

00:57 seeing how successful Taylor was in doing this.

01:00 Yeah, well Taylor Swift is clearly changing the game and we talked about how she's revolutionized

01:06 potentially the movie industry and now the music industry.

01:10 The newest billionaire in the United States, she's certainly a unicorn and a great business

01:14 mind as well.

01:15 So obviously Taylor Swift is unique in that her songs have been popular for decades and

01:22 she has a leverage that maybe a lot of folks won't when they're trying to get their record

01:27 deal.

01:28 But if you're asking me as a lawyer from a legal perspective, this is purely a contractual

01:32 matter.

01:33 You can agree to anything you want.

01:34 You know, we talked about the Housewives franchise, right?

01:37 If you want to be on the show, you agree to release your claims.

01:40 Well, you know, an artist can agree to have the record companies own the intellectual

01:46 property and the rights indefinitely.

01:49 Or they can have a much shorter period and someone like Taylor Swift is really raising

01:53 awareness about how important these re-recording rights are and the parties can agree to anything

01:59 that they want.

02:00 Yeah, it's going to be hard for, you know, up and coming artists that want that record

02:04 deal and then who knows if they become the next Taylor Swift, they might be stuck.

02:07 Who knows?

02:08 It's very interesting how she keeps kind of revolutionizing the way that business is going

02:13 for record labels and movie industry.