Taylor Swift’s contract with label Big Machine ends in November. That means that the superstar artist is on the cusp of signing her first record deal since she came on the scene at age 15. At a time when the industry is undergoing a resurgence, Swift could cut one of the most lucrative recording deals in history.
Swift’s superstardom continues to climb, with her sixth album, Reputation, streaking to triple platinum (the previous five have each sold between 6 million to 10 million copies) and her stadium tour making millions of dollars at each sold-out stop. Now she is prepared to become a free agent in November when her obligation to Big Machine Records and CEO Scott Borchetta runs out, according to Variety.
Swift may certainly re-up with Big Machine, a Universal Music Group label, but clearly she has the bargaining power to pit a bidding war between labels.
Big Machine owns the masters of her recordings so she will likely negotiate to own her new material in her next deal or attempt to have Big Machine sign the recordings over to her in return for staying with the label, Variety noted. A source told the trade mag that Big Machine obtains 80% of its income from its flagship artist.
Other options include creating her own label, signing with another label inside the UMG system or, obviously, to head elsewhere.
photo by jazills [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons