Taylor Swift: Singer, Songwriter, Copyright Innovator

Taylor Swift is in the news, and not just because she has become the most decorated solo artist of all time. The fact that Taylor Swift has already been mentioned multiple times on Walled Culture underlines that she is also an important – if surprising – figure in the world of copyright. That’s because Swift has been re-recording her albums in order to gain full control over them. She lost control because of the way that copyright works in the music industry, where it is split between the written song and its performance (the “master recording”). Record label contracts typically contain a clause in which the artist grants the label an exclusive and total license to the master. By re-recording her albums, Swift can add control of the master to her control of the written songs.

Swift’s long battle is well-known in the industry. But an article on the Harvard Law Today site from a few months back adds an important detail to this story that I have not seen reported anywhere else. It draws on comments made by Gary R. Greenstein, a “technology transactions partner” at Wilson Sonsini, one of the top US law firms. It concerns a common legal requirement in contracts to wait a certain number of years before artists are allowed to re-record an album:

It’s significant, Greenstein said, that the first Taylor’s Version wasn’t released until she’d been off [record label] Big Machine for three years. Until then, she was legally bound not to re-record any of the material, and this time frame was typical of record deals in the past. But this is the part of the equation that Swift likely changed for good.

According to Greenstein, the major record labels used to be fairly reasonable in terms of the length of the prohibition they imposed on on re-recording. But he says that’s no longer the case as a result of Swift’s successful project to regain full control of her own works:

record companies are now trying to prohibit re-recordings for 20 or 30 years, not just two or three. And this has become a key part of contract negotiations. “Will they get 30 years? Probably not, if the lawyer is competent. But they want to make sure that the artist’s vocal cords are not in good shape by the time they get around to re-recording.”

In other words, as soon as a creator finds a way to take back control from intermediaries that have routinely derived excessive profits from the labor of others, the copyright world fights back with new legal straitjackets to stop other artists daring to do the same. That’s yet another reason for creators to retain full control of their works, and to shun traditional intermediaries that try to impose one-sided and unfair contracts.

Climate goal to triple global renewable energy by 2030 within reach, IEA says

LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - A goal to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030 and cut fossil fuel use is within reach, the International Energy Agency said in a report on Tuesday, but will require a huge push to unlock bottlenecks such as permitting and grid connections.

The report comes as leaders from government and business come together at New York Climate week to try to drive forward action against climate change.

Almost 200 countries at the COP 28 climate summit in Dubai last year agreed to reach net zero emissions from the energy sector by 2050 and pledged to triple renewable energy capacity like wind and solar.

The IEA said the renewable energy goal "is within reach thanks to favourable economics, ample manufacturing potential and strong policies," but said more renewable capacity by itself would not slash fossil fuel use and reduce costs for consumers.

“To unlock the full benefits of the tripling goal, countries need to make a concerted push to build and modernise 25 million kilometres of electricity grids by 2030... The world would also need 1,500 gigawatts (GW) of energy storage capacity by 2030,” the IEA said.

Countries at COP 28 also pledged to double energy efficiency measures to help curb power use, but this target will require governments to make efficiency much more of a policy priority.

Via Fix the News