Taylor Swift: Release of old songs ‘shameless greed’
LOS ANGELES (Reuters/JTA) – Taylor Swift on Thursday revived her feud with her former record company, complaining that the release of a 2008 collection of recordings for a radio show was “tasteless.”
“I want to thank my fans for making me aware that my former record label is putting out an “album” of live performances of mine tonight . ... This release is not approved by me,” Swift told her 131 million Instagram followers.
The album, Live From Clear Channel Stripped 2008, is a collection of recordings Swift made for a radio show when she was 18, the “Fearless” singer said. She called the release by the Big Machine Label Group “another case of shameless greed in the time of Coronavirus. So tasteless, but very transparent.”
Big Machine declined to comment on Thursday.
Swift recorded her first six albums with Big Machine before leaving in 2018 for Universal Music Group. Big Machine owns the master recordings of her back catalog and under standard industry practice retains the right to release material that was recorded when she was with the label.
Swift has publicly feuded for more than a year with Big Machine and its senior executives over the use of her old songs. The dispute escalated last November when music executive Scooter Braun said his family had received death threats because of Swift’s remarks, and appealed for peace.
There is more to the story.
Swift is drawing criticism – and apparent applause among her neo-Nazi fan base — for calling out “the Soros family” in an Instagram post — the latest salvo in the pop superstar’s ongoing battle with her former record label.
The Soros family long has been at the center of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Jewish domination of global banking. George Soros, a Hungarian billionaire and liberal philanthropist, typically is the main target. But his son Alex, the deputy chair of his father’s Open Society Foundations, an international group that promotes liberal causes, has begun to feature in them as well.
According to Swift, Alex Soros also is playing a role in the hugely popular singer’s nasty and public fight with Big Machine. In June, the label sold the masters to talent manager Scooter Braun. Swift believes she should have been given the opportunity to purchase her own masters, and has been pressing the case in interviews.
“After I was denied the chance to purchase my music outright, my entire catalog was sold to Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings in a deal that I’m told was funded by the Soros family, 23 Capital and that Carlyle Group,” Swift said in December.
Swift doubled down Thursday night on Instagram after she found out that Big Machine was planning to put out an album of her live performances. Calling out the Soros family, Braun (the Jewish industry giant associated with the likes of Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande) and the private equity firms involved in the sale, Swift branded the decision to release the new album “shameless greed,” invoking language that many have used to signal antisemitic sentiments.
“Taylor Swift deploying a Soros dogwhistle is… a choice,” CNN producer Tara Mulholland tweeted.
Swift’s notable fan base among white supremacists seemed to get the message. Some of the responses make clear that people are associating her post with widespread antisemitic conspiracy theories about Soros.
Bend the Arc, a Jewish progressive political advocacy group with which Alex Soros is closely involved, tweeted a message to Swift on Friday afternoon.
“You have every right to be upset about others profiting off your music. But PLEASE don’t share antisemitic conspiracy theories about the Soros family,” the group wrote. “‘Shameless greed’ is a dog-whistle used against Jews. Your Jewish fans deserve better.”