Taylor Swift: I Can't Use My Own Songs

Singer appeals to fans with Netflix doc, AMA performance in limbo
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 15, 2019 4:26 AM CST
Taylor Swift Reveals Netflix Doc —With a Major Catch
Taylor Swift performs at Wango Tango, at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif., on June 1, 2019.   (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

"This isn't the way I had planned on telling you this news," Taylor Swift wrote on social media Wednesday in announcing Netflix has been creating a documentary about her for the past few years. The abrupt announcement came in desperation, per Variety. "Don't know what else to do," the singer wrote, explaining Scott Borchetta, her former label boss at Big Machine Label Group, which owns the six studio albums Swift released before signing with Universal, and his new partner, Scooter Braun, have refused to release her old songs for use in the documentary unless she agrees not to re-record the songs in the future—something she has publicly said she will do. Per the Guardian, up to 80% of BMLG's revenue is thought to come from Swift's music.

Swift also said the pair are keeping her from performing a medley of past hits at the American Music Awards, where she will be given the Artist of the Decade award. Borchetta and Braun, the latter of whom Swift calls a bully, "claim that would be re-recording my music before I'm allowed to next year," she wrote. They "are exercising tyrannical control over someone who just wants to play the music she wrote" and "the message being sent to me is very clear. Basically, be a good little girl and shut up." Hashtag #IStandWithTaylor was trending following the post, in which Swift encouraged fans to make their feelings known. But private contact information for Borchetta and Braun was reportedly shared online in a move the Verge suggests Swift should've anticipated. (More Taylor Swift stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X