Taylor Swift's New Record Deal Has a Savage Spotify Clause
Taylor Swift is bidding adieu to her longtime record label, Big Machine Label Group. Her new home? According to The Guardian, it's Republic Records and Universal Music Group, where she'll be rubbing shoulders with Rihanna and Lady Gaga. But the big move isn't the only big news. In her new contract, Swift made sure that her longstanding beef with streaming services was addressed: Any money that UMG makes from selling its shares of Spotify will go to artists, not businesspeople.
The AV Club explains that all artists under the UMG umbrella will benefit. Selling of shares will "result in a distribution of money to their artists, non-recoupable," the site reports. She also mentioned it in an Instagram post.
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A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Nov 19, 2018 at 7:37am PST
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Swift has had beef with streaming services in the past. She didn't have any of her music on Spotify until last year — to commemorate selling 10 million albums — and prior to that, she made 1989 available exclusively on Apple Music. At the time, Spotify didn't get it.
In another twist, Swift will also maintain ownership of the master recordings of all the music she releases under UMG. The AV Club mentions that Big Machine makes "80 percent of its revenue from the rights to Swift’s first six albums," so this move allows Swift to keep a huge chunk of her income. That's a win for Swift, a win for all the artists at Universal, and a win for fans, who will get to stream all the hits whenever they want.
