Thank goodness PART of this Taylor Swift drama is playing out correctly.
In case you’ve been living under a rock…
On Thursday, Tay took to Tumblr telling fans Big Machine Label Group (aka new boss Scooter Braun and former owner Scott Borchetta) was blocking her from performing any hits from her last six albums at the American Music Awards, where she’s set to receive Artist of the Decade honors, this Sunday. The superstar also claimed they are not allowing her to use any vintage tour footage or old tunes in a forthcoming Netflix documentary about her career.
Related: Scooter Braun Is Apparently Frustrated With Scott Borchetta Over Taylor Drama!
As a little background, Scooter purchased the Look What You Made Me Do singer’s masters in June of 2019, and it was a whole controversial thing, because Taylor said she was never approached about buying them herself.
Well, we can happily report today, it appears as though BMLP and Dick Clark Productions has come to an agreement, at least for the AMAs portion of Swift’s complaint.
The joint statement via Variety reads:
“The Big Machine Label Group and Dick Clark Productions announce that they 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. This includes the upcoming American Music Awards performances. 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.”
So yeah, this basically confirms that Big Machine DID in fact say she could NOT perform the songs, despite what their dancey odd-ball statement said! We assume the issue wasn’t with her singing, but rather a west coast replay of the show and any distribution of the footage past that.
Still, seems silly, right?
Related: Scooter Braun Tells Fans He’s Willing To Make A Deal With Taylor Over Her Masters!
As a refresher, this was released by Big Machine on Friday:
“As Taylor Swift’s partner for over a decade, we were shocked to see her Tumblr statements yesterday based on false information. At no point did we say Taylor could not perform on the AMAs or block her Netflix special. In fact, we do not have the right to keep her from performing live anywhere. Since Taylor’s decision to leave Big Machine last fall, we have continued to honor all of her requests to license her catalog to third parties as she promotes her current record in which we do not financially participate.
The truth is, Taylor has admitted to contractually owing millions of dollars and multiple assets to our company, which is responsible for 120 hardworking employees who helped build her career. We have worked diligently to have a conversation about these matters with Taylor and her team to productively move forward. We started to see progress over the past two weeks and were optimistic as recently as yesterday that this may get resolved. However, despite our persistent efforts to find a private and mutually satisfactory solution, Taylor made a unilateral decision last night to enlist her fanbase in a calculated manner that greatly affects the safety of our employees and their families. Taylor, the narrative you have created does not exist. All we ask is to have a direct and honest conversation. When that happens, you will see there is nothing but respect, kindness and support waiting for you on the other side. To date, not one of the invitations to speak with us and work through this has been accepted. Rumors fester in the absence of communication. Let’s not have that continue here. We share the collective goal of giving your fans the entertainment they both want and deserve.”
In an epic rebuttal, the 29-year-old’s rep Tree Paine issued some savage words WITH RECEIPTS!
“The truth is, on October 28, 2019 at 5:17 p.m. the Vice President, Rights Management and Business Affairs from Big Machine Label Group sent Taylor Swift’s team the following: “Please be advised that BMLG will not agree to issue licenses for existing recordings or waivers of its re-recording restrictions in connection with these two projects: The Netflix documentary and The Alibaba “Double Eleven” event.
To avoid an argument over rights, Taylor performed three songs off her new album Lover at the Double Eleven event as it was clear that Big Machine Label Group felt any televised performance of catalog songs violated her agreement. In addition, yesterday Scott Borchetta, CEO and founder of Big Machine Label Group, flatly denied the request for both American Music Awards and Netflix. Please notice in Big Machine’s statement, they never actually deny either claim Taylor said last night in her post. Lastly, Big Machine is trying to deflect and make this about money by saying she owes them but, an independent professional auditor has determined that Big Machine owes Taylor $7.9 Million of unpaid royalties over several years.”
So yeah…
After today’s ruling, they can take their “Taylor, the narrative you have created does not exist” and suck it! Here’s hoping they can also come to an agreement for the Netflix deal.
Are you looking forward to seeing T.Swizzle hit the stage Sunday? Do you think she’s going to scream sing The Man with all her bottled rage?
Either way, we simply CANNOT WAIT!
[Image via Instar/WENN]
The post Taylor Swift WILL Play Her Hits At The AMAs — Big Machine & Dick Clark Productions Come To An Agreement! appeared first on Perez Hilton.