Daylight

Chapter XVII - Mean

June 30, 2019

The atmosphere in the room almost stresses her out more than the actual situation she finds herself in. After Tree's phone call, they had agreed to meet up face-to-face in New York. Not only had she told Tree to come to the penthouse, she'd called up her parents and her legal team as well, Joe had offered to be there as support and for the first time in a long while she'd taken him up on the offer, something that had surprised both of them.

"So," Tree begins once all sixteen people are seated in Taylor's living room, "for those who are not yet entirely in the loop, I was informed by Scott Borchetta's legal team that he has decided to sell the entirety of Big Machine Label Group to the highest bidder. In this case," Tree almost looks disgusted, "Scooter Braun."

"You didn't know about any of this?" Taylor asks once Tree stops talking.

There's a silence that overcomes the room while Scott Swift shifts uneasily in the armchair he picked out minutes earlier.

"I abstained of any of the shareholders' meetings," he mumbles, "conflict of interest."

"I don't think your father is to blame for any of this," Andrea mediates subtly, "What's done is done, the question is what are we going to do about it?"

"Are you sure I cannot buy my own masters back?" Taylor turns to the head of legal.

"It is a package deal. $300 million for all of the artists' masters. Yours accounts for $180 million, we have repeatedly liaised to try and come to a compromise where we could purchase your masters and leave the rest of the catalogue as is but to no avail."

"So, what are her options?" Andrea interrupts, staring the man down.

"Ms. Swift," the man starts, looking at Andrea before turning back to Taylor, "you can either take Mr. Braun up on his offer, or -"

"He made an offer," Taylor exclaims, "that is... what is his offer?"

"RBMG notified us that they are happy to let you earn back your masters."

"I what?"

"You would be contractually obliged to release six albums under RBMG and for each album you release, they would," the lawyer clears his throat, "give you back the rights to the masters of one album, starting with Taylor Swift and ending with Reputation."

"No."

"There isn't really any leeway to negotiate anything else," another lawyer sighs, "the foundation of the contract you signed with Mr. Borchetta -"

"When I was 15."

"- when you were 15, stipulates he can do what the masters as he pleases. If he sells them onto Mr. Braun and the latter only wants to return them as an exchange with new music offered in return, there is not much we can argue. Unless you want to wait it out and opt for the rerecording clause."

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Taylor leans forward, "I can rerecord it?"

"We looked into it and starting from November 2020, you would be able to rerecord the first five albums. Reputation, due to the recent release, would have to wait a few more years. You could rerecord that in 2022."

"Right, well," Taylor looks at Tree, "I'm going to rerecord the entire thing."

Tree keeps her professional front although it's clear to anyone in the room the redhead's head is buzzing with questions and concerns.

"You would have to take into account," Tree taps her pen onto the coffee table next to the sofa she's sitting on, "that you would have to rerecord all of these while you are working on your current music. It would have to happen between press releases and touring and practice and recording your current music."