Taylor Swift can now sing her old hits at awards show, Latest Music News - The New Paper
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Taylor Swift can now sing her old hits at awards show

New York – Taylor Swift’s former label said Monday that it will allow the US pop superstar to perform some of her early hits at the upcoming American Music Awards – the latest twist in a months-long public feud over the rights to her first six albums.

But even the seeming resolution of the spat did not come without some confusion.

The Big Machine Label Group released what it called a joint statement with Dick Clark Productions – which puts on the awards show – saying they had “reached a licensing agreement” that would allow Swift to sing what she wants at the Nov 24 ceremony.

But shortly thereafter, the producers distanced themselves from the situation, saying it was between Swift and her ex-label.

Big Machine, which is based in Nashville, then clarified that it had “informed” the production company of its licensing approval.

Last week, Swift – known for her calculating social media strategy – said on Tumblr that Big Machine heads were “exercising tyrannical control” over her.

She claimed they had told her she was “not allowed to perform my old songs on television because they claim that would be re-recording my music before I’m allowed to next year”.

She added Big Machine was also preventing her from using “older music or performance footage” for a Netflix project.

The company denied the allegations last week.

“It should be noted that recording artists do not need label approval for live performances on television or any other live media,” Big Machine said Monday.

“Record label approval is only needed for contracted artists’ audio and visual recordings and in determining how those works are distributed.”

Swift, 29, began publicly sparring with industry mogul Scooter Braun this summer over his purchase of her former label of more than a decade, which gave him a majority stake in the master recordings of her first six albums.

She then vowed to re-record her early albums to create copies she owns herself, saying her contract allows her to begin redoing albums one through five in November 2020 – when she plans to be back in the studio doing just that.

Swift signed a new deal with Universal Music Group in 2018 that gave her ownership of her masters going forward, including for her recently released seventh album Lover. - AFP

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