Why Taylor Swift Rerecorded ‘Fearless’ and How Much She Stands To Make
When it comes to “Fearless,” the second album megastar Taylor Swift released in her career, what’s old is new again.
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The 2008 smash release is one of six albums Swift is re-recording and releasing again, and it’s out this month under the name “Fearless (Taylor’s Version).” All signs point to the release turning into an instant hit, and Forbes projected it will reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in short order. The original peaked at No. 1 on Nov. 29, 2008 — one of the artist’s eight LPs to top the charts. The re-release very well could be the ninth.
Swift was 19 when the original was released, and she’s 31 now, giving her an entire new group of tweens and teens to swoon over her music. “Fearless” won Album of the Year and Best Country Album at the Grammys in 2009, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Why the Re-Release?
Swift was just a 15-year-old in Nashville, Tennessee, when she signed on with Big Machine Records in 2005. No one could have anticipated the level of superstardom she would achieve, and she signed the standard contract that gave the record label the rights to her albums — and the ensuing royalties.
When her contract expired in 2018 and she switched to Universal Music Group’s Republic Records, she signed a deal that allowed her to retain ownership of all her master tracks — but the rights for the first six belonged to Big Machine Records. She also got Republic Records to agree that proceeds of any shares the group sold in the music streamer Spotify would be distributed to artists on the label. As a singer with millions of albums sold and a history of sold-out stadium tours, she had the leverage to get such contract terms. The original “Fearless” sold more than 10 million albums, The Washington Post reported.
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How Much Can She Potentially Earn From the New ‘Fearless’?
It’s tough to put a dollar figure on it, but Swift’s earnings could be in the millions, starting with earnings from the use of some of the songs from the second “Fearless.”
Swift has been using her rights as a songwriter to block the new use of any of the tracks she wrote on those first six albums. That’s because Big Machine Records sold her catalog in June 2019 for $300 million — a deal that was out of her control. She decided not to allow the purchaser, Scooter Braun, to use her music in any way other than for streaming, playing on the radio or selling albums.
Now, with the release of “Fearless (Taylor’s Version),” she can grant the rights to those songs for use in movies, on television shows or in commercials. Her 2018 deal with Republic Records also gave her royalty on her releases of at least 50%, far higher than the 10% to 15% she had with Big Machine, Forbes reported.
“The reason I’m rerecording my music next year is because I do want my music to live on,” she told Billboard in a 2019 interview. “I do want it to be in movies, I do want it to be in commercials. But I only want that if I own it.”
Her devoted fans also are likely to snap up her music — even if they already owned the original — out of loyalty.
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Does the New Album Have Any Surprises?
The original “Fearless” was released Aug. 28, 2008, and consisted of 58 minutes of music. The new version, which became the No. 1 seller in pop music on Amazon just five days after its release, has 26 songs and runs one hour, 46 minutes. It was recorded during the pandemic, when her tour was canceled.
“Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” is a collection of the original music from the album, such as “Love Story,” “You Belong With Me” and “White Horse.” Plus there are bonus tracks that didn’t make the cut the first time around, some of which reflect on her short-lived 2008 relationship with singer-songwriter Joe Jonas.
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She told People she tried to stay true to the original.
“In terms of production, I really wanted to stay very loyal to the initial melodies that I had thought of for these songs,” she said. “And so we really did go in and try to create a ‘the same but better’ version. We kept all the same parts that I initially dreamed up for these songs. But if there was any way that we could improve upon the sonic quality, we did.”
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Why Taylor Swift Rerecorded ‘Fearless’ and How Much She Stands To Make
