El Dorado News-Times

Taylor Swift feud with music group continues

- By Andrew Dalton

LOS ANGELES — Taylor Swift said Thursday that she may not perform at the American Music Awards and may have to put other projects including a forthcomin­g Netflix documentar­y on hold because the men who own her old recordings won’t allow her to play her songs.

“Right now my performanc­e at the AMAs, the Netflix documentar­y and any other recorded events I am planning to play until November 2020 are a question mark,” Swift said on Twitter and Instagram.

Swift said she had planned to play a medley of her hits when she’s named Artist of the Decade at the AMAs on Nov. 24, but the men who own the music, Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta, are calling the television performanc­e an illegal re-recording.

“I just want to be able to perform MY OWN music. That’s it,” Swift said. “I’ve tried to work this out privately through my team but have not been able to resolve anything.”

The Big Machine Label Group said in a statement Friday that “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.’’

The 29-year-old singer-songwriter has loudly spoken out against her old master recordings falling into the hands of the music manager Braun, who bought them by acquiring Borchetta’s Big Machine Label Group in June. Swift has used the sale and its aftermath to publicly advocate for the rights of artists and to further a feud with the two men.

Swift said in the posts that Borchetta has told her he will allow the projects to go forward if she drops plans to record copycat versions of her older songs next year, which Swift says she plans to do and has the legal right to, and if she stops her public trashing of the two men.

“The message being sent to me is very clear,” Swift said. "Basically, be a good little girl and shut up. Or you’ll be punished.”

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States