Taylor Swift lashes out on unapproved album release

American songstress Taylor Swift is embroiled in a feud with her former record company Big Machine Records. On Thursday (23 April) fans informed Swift that Big Machine Records planned to release a live album from her early days as a recording artist. The Lover singer said that the release of the 2008 collection was ‘tasteless’. Swift took to Instagram to let her 131 million Instagram followers know that the release was not approved by her.

The album Live From Clear Channel Stripped 2008 was made for a radio show when Swift was 18. Swift added that the move amounted to ‘shameless greed in the time of Coronavirus.’ The record company did not comment on the matter. Swift’s first six albums were recorded with the record company before she joined Universal Music Group in 2018.

Swift and Big Machine have been at loggerheads for more than a year over the use of her old songs. Music executive Scooter Braun and his family received death threats because of Swift’s remarks. Braun acquired Big Machine Records in the summer and with that came the rights to Swift’s first six albums.

Swift wrote on Instagram Story that she has always been honest about the issue and that Scooter Braun and his financial backers, 23 Capital, Alex Soros and the Soros family and the Carlyle Group saw the latest balance sheets and realised that paying $330 million for her music was not the best choice.

Swift also thanked her fans for alerting her to the release. Big Machine will release it on Friday at midnight. Sources revealed that the album was made available after a license for the live show had expired and got renewed.

The label is not expecting a windfall from the release of the album but it may earn $60,000 to $80,000 a year through streaming. Sources added that there was no deliberate intention to antagonize Swift and it was considered a routine release of material that had already been out publicly.

According to reports, Live from Clear Channel Stripped 2008 has not been released previously in album form. Three of the songs were released in limited physical form. In 2009, two tracks from that radio session appeared as videos on a bonus DVD included with a Target-exclusive deluxe version of Fearless. Big Machine released a B-side to a picture-disc single last year after Swift left the label.

Five songs from the album was ripped from the original 2008 broadcast on Clear Channel which has been circulated as fan uploads.