Prince Also Fought for the Rights to His Music, Like Taylor Swift

On Friday, Taylor Swift made a huge announcement regarding her music. She officially owns everything now! This has been a battle she's been fighting for many years. And there's actually a Minnesota artist who had to fight for the rights to their music, too.

ALSO READ: The MN Bar That's the REAL First Bar in the State

Taylor Swift Finally Owns Her Music

Taylor Swift made the announcement on Friday, May 30th, that she finally owns all of her music, music videos, concert films, art, photography, and unreleased songs.

This battle started years ago when Scooter Braun purchased the rights to Taylor's work and music. She wasn't given the opportunity to buy the rights, so she started re-recording all of her albums so she, at the very least, had ownership over those.

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In 2020, a company called Shamrock Capital purchased the rights to her work from Scooter Braun. Eventually, they agreed to work out a deal with Taylor so she could own all of her work again.

After years and $360 million, she now owns all of her work.

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Most Artists Don't Own the Rights to Their Music

During this battle, she made it well-known that most artists don't own their work, and that it's actually owned by the record label. Taylor's fight seems to have changed that, though.

In a letter on her website, Taylor writes that she has heard from many new artists that they have negotiated owning their work with the label they're working with, which is awesome.

Unfortunately, Taylor Swift is far from the only artist who has fought with record labels for the rights to her music. There's a Minnesota musician who went through a similar fight.

Prince Fought for Years to Own His Music

Prince fought with Warner Bros. Records for years to get the rights to his music.

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Popcrush writes that Prince "went as far as to change his name to a symbol in protest". He also "wrote 'slave' on a royalty check he received" in retaliation.

Finally, in 2017, Prince got full ownership of his music. Sadly, that was only two years before he passed away.

PICTURES: See Inside Taylor Swift's Luxurious Childhood Home

Taylor Swift's luxurious childhood home is for sale for just under a million dollars, and pictures show a well-appointed residence that's a fitting home for a future superstar. The 5-bedroom, 4-bathroom, 3,560-square-foot Georgian Colonial in suburban Reading, Pa., has been completely renovated, and it features a sweeping staircase, a formal dining room, a study with a fireplace and a formal living room with a fireplace and French doors that open onto a side porch.

There's also a gourmet kitchen, a large master bedroom with an attached master bathroom, a bonus room, a separate laundry room and a detached garage.

Gallery Credit: Sterling Whitaker