Taylor Swift Gets Approval to Perform Old Songs

In a lengthy statement on Twitter, Swift claimed Big Machine Label Group was blocking her from performing a medley of her top songs. Now, she's been given permission.

The battle between Grammy-award winner Taylor Swift and her former record label has seemingly come to a halt with the singer now being given permission to perform her songs at an award show. Big Machine Label Group released a statement Monday saying they reached an agreement.

"The Big Machine Label Group informed Dick Clark Productions today that they have agreed to grant all licenses of their artists’ performances to stream post show and for re-broadcast on mutually approved platforms," they said in the statement. "It should be noted that recording artists do not need label approval for live performances on television or any other live media."

Dick Clark Productions is the company that produces the American Music Awards where Swift is being honored as "Artist of the Decade," and is scheduled to perform her old songs. However, in a statement to NPR, DCP said they never came to such an agreement.

"At no time did Dick Clark Productions agree to, create, authorize or distribute a statement in partnership with Big Machine Label Group regarding Taylor Swift's performance at the 2019 American Music Awards. Any final agreement on this matter needs to be made directly with Taylor Swift's management team. We have no further comment," they said.

Last week, Swift posted a lengthy statement on her Twitter account saying Big Machine Label Group founder Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun are trying to prevent her from performing a medley of her top songs during a scheduled AMA performance.

In July, BMLG was acquired by Ithaca Holdings, which meant Swift’s entire catalog went with it. She took to Tumblr to express her feelings on the new deal and claims she only learned of the news as it went public. In August, she said she planned to re-record six of her albums beginning in November 2020.

Swift claimed BMLG was trying to block the use of her songs for the AMA performance, as well as a Netflix documentary about her career, saying Braun and Borchetta have declined to allow the use of old footage of her performances.

“Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun have now said I’m not allowed to perform my old songs on television because they claim that would be re-recording my music before I'm allowed to next year,” Swift said.

Swift directly asked for help from her fans and The Carlyle Group, who was a major investor of Braun’s company, saying, “Please ask them for help with this — I'm hoping that maybe they can talk some sense into the men who are exercising tyrannical control over someone who just wants to play the music she wrote. I'm especially asking for help from The Carlyle Group, who put up money for the sale of my music to these two men.”

BMLG responded to Swift in a statement that claims her concerns are based on false information, saying "Taylor, the narrative you have created does not exist."

“At no point did we say Taylor could not perform on the AMAs or block her Netflix special,” BMLG said. “In fact, we do not have the right to keep her from performing live anywhere.”

BMLG also said they have been trying to reach a conclusion with Swift and said she contractually owes them millions of dollars.

“However, despite our persistent efforts to find a private and mutually satisfactory solution, Taylor made a unilateral decision last night to enlist her fanbase in a calculated manner that greatly affects the safety of our employees and their families,” they said.

Swift said her announcement of the biographical Netflix documentary was not planned, but part of her expressing the ongoing saga to her fans. She continued in her post saying, “I feel very strongly that what is happening to me could change the awareness level for other artists and potentially help them avoid a similar fate.”