Entertainment

Taylor Swift Got The Green Light To Perform Old Songs At The AMAs

by Jessica Wang
Taylor Swift's AMAs performance will include her old songs after all
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After a contentious back and forth with Big Machine Label Group, Taylor Swift’s American Music Awards performance could include old songs after all. In a statement provided to Variety and various other outlets that doesn’t reference Swift specifically, Big Machine said it informed Dick Clark Productions that it "agreed to grant all licenses of their artists’ performances to stream post show and for re-broadcast on mutually approved platforms."

Big Machine’s statement continued,

It should be noted that recording artists do not need label approval for live performances on television or any other live media. Record label approval is only needed for contracted artists' audio and visual recordings and in determining how those works are distributed.

The label's earlier statement on Monday claimed that it had reached this deal with Dick Clark Productions — something the production company later denied. “At no time did Dick Clark Productions agree to, create, authorize or distribute a statement in partnership with Big Machine Label Group regarding Taylor Swift’s performance at the 2019 American Music Awards," Dick Clark Productions' statement read. "Any final agreement on this matter needs to be made directly with Taylor Swift’s management team." Bustle has reached out to Taylor Swift's team for comment.

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The update comes after Swift claimed that Scott Borchetta, the CEO of Big Machine Label Group, and Scooter Braun, a record executive who acquired Swift’s masters in June, would not allow her to perform a medley of her old songs at the ceremony. In a lengthy statement published on Twitter on Nov. 14, Swift claimed that the executives would not grant the use of songs from her first six albums at her AMAs performance or for an upcoming Netflix documentary about her life.

Swift claimed that Borchetta would only grant her approval if she agreed to halt her plans to re-record her old songs and to stop "talking about him and Scooter Braun." She wrote, "The message being sent to me is very clear. Basically, be a good little girl and shut up. Or you'll be punished. This is WRONG. Neither of these men had a hand in the writing of those songs. They did nothing to create the relationship I have with my fans.”

A day later, Big Machine issued a statement that denied Swift’s claims, calling them “false information.” The Nov. 15 statement said, in part, "At no point did we say Taylor could not perform on the AMAs or block her Netflix special.” A spokesperson for Swift, however, hit back at the statement and said Borchetta "flatly denied the request for both American Music Awards and Netflix." Her spokesperson then added that Big Machine’s statement didn’t “actually deny either claim Taylor said last night in her post."

The American Music Awards will air on Sunday, Nov. 24 on ABC. Swift will be honored with an Artist of the Decade award.