Tuesday, November 19, 2019 ~ NATIONAL
by Mary P Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
It’s big business for singers who want to be stars. Apparently at the start of their careers many sell off rights to their songs as a way to prove their talent or be taken seriously, or eventually just to help finance their next career phase.
That was apparently what appeared to be the ‘only’ option for the highly talented Taylor Swift when she launched her career as a teenager in 2003 at the age of 14. Although now a creative and financial success ($360 million net worth), Swift now finds herself being contractually prevented from singing some of her earlier songs, because she no longer owns them. She’s not happy about that, but that’s her particular business reality.
Today some musicians make it big without selling off their best work, by using YouTube and other social media platforms to get noticed. The Edmonton-based singer ‘Ruth B’ is a good example of that, and she skyrocketed to fame seemingly overnight.
Times have changed, and creative artists who can manage to hold onto ownership of their own material are to be lauded. Swift may still get to sing her own songs at the American Music Awards November 24 but she may have to pay rights to do so (or to also re-record them at a later date as claims she plans to do).
~ MPB
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This editorial was first published on page 2 in the November 15, 2019 print-PDF weekend edition of West Shore Voice News.