Yeah, it’s not anything new but cool article nonetheless, and depending on the amount of information you’ve researched/been exposed to – you could find it interesting. You can read excerpts below, or read the original article here.
Bad blood puts Taylor Swift music deal in trouble
[Excerpts]
Big Machine earned about $40m in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization last year, according to people briefed on the figures, and Ms Swift’s catalogue is the company’s prized asset.
[…] fans tweeting #WeStandWithTaylor threatened to stop listening to Ms Swift’s previous albums to prevent Mr Braun making money from them — and legal experts said that Ms Swift’s clout could disrupt the deal.
While Ms Swift does not own her recordings, she does control the publishing rights to her music because she writes all of her songs, meaning she could complicate Mr Braun’s ability to use her songs in television commercials, films or elsewhere, music executives warned.
“If you’re the acquirer and spend top dollar for these assets, and then find out you have handcuffs, it’s going to be a mess,” said a top executive at one of the big three major labels. “So if you’re Scooter, you’re freaking out right now.”
Ms Swift could take legal action, according to entertainment lawyers. “She might have some rights that have to do with defamation and injury to personality,” said Michael Sukin, a longtime music lawyer who has worked with the estate of Elvis Presley. “She’s a very rich woman. She could make life difficult for them. She might not win, but who wants to risk all this money over that?”
The two camps disagree on what exactly transpired. […] One person close to Mr Borchetta admits he did offer her that deal, but that it was years ago. […] Mr Borchetta put Big Machine up for sale in October, according to people familiar with the situation, and the industry expected the label to end up with Universal. But despite attracting bids from Universal, and interest from Warner Music, both companies backed out when the price got too expensive, according to three people familiar with the negotiations. Mr Borchetta opted to sell to Mr Braun…
Analysts at Citi wrote that the current saga exposes “some of the negative implications for record labels in general — the idea that young artists may follow Ms Swift’s advice. We are cautious on Universal Music and, in turn, Vivendi [its parent company] because we think the market is underplaying the risk of disintermediation.”
“This is about the transition to a new way of artists doing deals with record labels,” said Mark Mulligan, analyst with Midia Research. “Taylor Swift almost feels like she’s a slave or an asset to help sell a company to someone she didn’t want it to be sold to. More artists will see what Taylor is going through and do what they can to not have that happen to them.”
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