Taylor Swift’s beef with her former label, Big Machine Records, and its CEO, Scooter Braun, resurfaced when the singer announced they were keeping her from playing pre-Lover hits at the American Music Awards. Because Big Machine owns her masters, they control the licensing of her catalog for television and Swift told fans that Braun was trying to stop her from performing those songs. But it seems as though Swift and Braun have come to an agreement. The singer has been cleared to play music from her entire catalog at the ceremony where she will be honored as Artist of the Decade.
Swift received the go-ahead from Big Machine Records and Dick Clark Productions to perform old music on live television. According to Billboard, Big Machine said in a statement that the parties have “come to terms on a licensing agreement that approves their artists’ performances to stream post show and for re-broadcast on mutually approved platforms.” The statement also clarifies their position in Swifts’s previous claims, saying the singer never needed their permission in the first place. “It should be noted that recording artists do not need label approval for live performances on television or any other live media. Record label approval is only needed for contracted artists’ audio and visual recordings and in determining how those works are distributed.”
Swift had informed the public about the issues surrounding the AMAs in a post on social media. “Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun have now said that I’m 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 wrote in a lengthy post. “I just want to be able to perform MY OWN music. That’s it. I’ve tried to work this out privately through my team but have not been able to resolve anything.” Several musicians like Camila Cabello and Selena Gomez sided with Swift over the disagreement.
Big Machine responded to Swift’s original claim, writing, “At no point did we say Taylor could not perform on the AMAs or block her Netflix special.” But Swift’s publicist wasn’t convinced, saying the label hadn’t actually denied any of Swift’s claims.
