For Years I Asked, Pleaded For A Chance To Own My Work. Instead I Was Given An Opportunity To Sign Back

For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. Instead I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in. I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future. I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past. Music I wrote on my bedroom floor and videos I dreamed up and paid for from the money I earned playing in bars, then clubs, then arenas, then stadiums.

Some fun facts about today’s news: I learned about Scooter Braun’s purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world. All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years.

Like when Kim Kardashian orchestrated an illegally recorded snippet of a phone call to be leaked and then Scooter got his two clients together to bully me online about it. (See photo) Or when his client, Kanye West, organized a revenge porn music video which strips my body naked. Now Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.

This is my worst case scenario. This is what happens when you sign a deal at fifteen to someone for whom the term ‘loyalty’ is clearly just a contractual concept. And when that man says ‘Music has value’, he means its value is beholden to men who had no part in creating it.

When I left my masters in Scott’s hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words ‘Scooter Braun’ escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to. He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn’t want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever.

Thankfully, I am now signed to a label that believes I should own anything I create. Thankfully, I left my past in Scott’s hands and not my future. And hopefully, young artists or kids with musical dreams will read this and learn about how to better protect themselves in a negotiation. You deserve to own the art you make.

I will always be proud of my past work. But for a healthier option, Lover will be out August 23.

Sad and grossed out,

💔

Taylor

Reblog if ur Rhysand trash so we can be trash together

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mirrorballsthings

8 years ago

acomaf vs acowar

people who keep saying acowar was trash compared to acomaf…. let me tell ya something… acowar and acomaf are two different books with two different purposes. acowar was a character driven book. the whole purpose of it was for character arcs and development. it was supposed to be a bridge for something to come. rhysand and feyre’s relationship drove the book, which made it so enjoyable. acowar was a plot driven book. its whole focus was on the war with hybern. the entire point of the book was to find a solution. the WAR drives the book. and for a book focused on war, it was pretty darn good. of course acomaf was better than acowar in the character sense, but the characters were already developed in acowar. acowar needed to be plot driven if anything was gonna get done in this world.

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mirrorballsthings

8 years ago

Let me tell y'all punks something about ACOWAR (spoiler FREE I promise)

I LOVED this book for one glaring reason (that goes beyond how much more Azriel we got, but I digress).

That reason is the gray area. There is SO. MUCH. moral gray area in ACOWAR. Characters that I admittedly thought were PERFECT and could do no wrong did wrong. Characters I thought were pure evil did right.

SJM portrayed a beautiful picture of humanity in a fantastical world. Not one of us is morally right or morally wrong, point blank. We are MESSY, and so was every character in ACOWAR. MESSY. And she didn’t shy away from portraying them as such. The characters moved all over the spectrum of right and wrong and that’s just LIFE.

The gray area is a GOOD THING. Now is it going to incite a million and one arguments on this platform concerning the age old argument of “oh so and so did this when they should have done this because I say so and since they didn’t they’re A PURE EVIL ABUSER SATAN WORSHIPPER BLAH BLAH BLAH.” And that part sucks. But real people are messy and all over the spectrum. And so is ACOWAR and I LOVE IT.

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mirrorballsthings

5 years ago

It’s been a long time since I edited shadowhunters’ runes on models bodies. Rune: courage in battle character by @cassandraclare

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mirrorballsthings

6 years ago

“What if Cordelia has changed her mind, and says she will not have a minx like you?”

“She would never!” Lucie was outraged.

“No,” Will agreed. “She would not. As far as I am concerned, you shall perform the ceremony as soon as you please. All I want is for you and Cordelia to live a long and happy life, and never be parted.”

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mirrorballsthings

4 years ago

I will never understand how someone can finish a book, like it and then just go on living. I have to go look for all of the fan art and fanfiction that has ever been published. Do deep character analysis, see what other people think of it, and basically just scroll down the book’s tumblr tag for HOURS looking at everything that’s already been discussed about it then imerse myself in the fandom so much it will consume my every thought for at least the coming week.

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mirrorballsthings

9 months ago