Taylor Swift has previewed a re-recorded version of her song Love Story in an advert created by Ryan Reynolds’ production company Maximum Effort, for dating site Match.com.
Swift announced the tie up via Twitter yesterday, writing: “Okay so while my new re-records are NOT done, my friend @VancityReynolds asked me if he could use a snippet of one for a LOLsome commercial he wrote so…here’s a sneak peak of Love Story! Working hard to get the music to you soon!!
Swift announced last year that she planned to re-record her masters for commercial exploitation – something she was believed to be contractually free to do from November 2020) onwards – after Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings acquired all of Big Machine (and its Taylor Swift masters) for a sum believed to amount to $330m in June 2019.
In December 2019 Swift confirmed that she was blocking sync uses of her classic hits because Scooter Braun owned the masters at the time.
As writer/co-writer of her hits, alongside her publisher Sony/ATV, Swift has the ultimate yay or nay over whether these tracks can be used by sync partners.
Speaking in an interview with Billboard on December 11, she explained that her strategy was to create/re-record new masters that she would then clear for sync purposes, while continuing to refuse any TV/movie/advertising uses of her original recordings.
Okay so while my new re-records are NOT done, my friend @VancityReynolds asked me if he could use a snippet of one for a LOLsome commercial he wrote so…here’s a sneak peak of Love Story! Working hard to get the music to you soon!! https://t.co/0vBFXxaRXR
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) December 2, 2020
An extra Twist was added to the story last month when Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings sold the master rights to Taylor Swift’s first six studio albums to Shamrock Capital, for around $300m.
As MBW reported back in July, Shamrock raised $400m in a new fund intending to spend this money on entertainment IP, including music copyrights.
Addressing her fans on social media on November 16, Swift wrote: “A few weeks ago my team received a letter from a private equity company called Shamrock Holdings, letting us know that they had bought 100% of my music, videos, and album art from Scooter Braun.
“This was the second time my music had been sold without my knowledge. The letter told me that they wanted to reach out before the sale to let me know, but that Scooter Braun had required that they make no contact with me or my team, or the deal would be off.
“As soon as we started communication with Shamrock, I learned that under their terms Scooter Braun will continue to profit off my old musical catalog for many years. I was hopeful and open to the possibility of a partnership with Shamrock, but Scooter’s participation is a non-starter for me.”
“I will be going forward with my original re-recording schedule and will be embarking on that effort soon. I know this will diminish the value of my old masters, but I hope you will understand that this is my only way of regaining the sense of pride I once had when hearing songs from my first six albums.”
Taylor Swift
Swift also showed her fans a letter she sent to Shamrock Capital on October 28, 2020, in which she wrote that “I cannot currently entertain being partners with you”.
She added: “I feel the need to be very transparent with you. I will be going forward with my original re-recording schedule and will be embarking on that effort soon.
“I know this will diminish the value of my old masters, but I hope you will understand that this is my only way of regaining the sense of pride I once had when hearing songs from my first six albums and also allowing my fans to listen to those albums without feelings of guilt for benefiting Scooter.”Music Business Worldwide
