Taylor Swift has released her re-recorded version of her 2008 album Fearless, now called Fearless (Taylor's Verison), and calls for Spotify to pull the old version. As of this writing, both are on Spotify. It seems she's working hard to reclaim new masters. I listened to a couple of songs, and they sound 99% the same. To me. Obviously her voice is slightly more mature now.

Also, there are a lot of "from the vault" tracks included, giving it more heft for buyers and streamers. There are twenty-six songs total, with a run time of 1h46m. The 2008 version clocked at 53 minutes.

TrivialPursuit said:

Taylor Swift has released her re-recorded version of her 2008 album Fearless, now called Fearless (Taylor's Verison), and calls for Spotify to pull the old version. As of this writing, both are on Spotify. It seems she's working hard to reclaim new masters. I listened to a couple of songs, and they sound 99% the same. To me. Obviously her voice is slightly more mature now.

Also, there are a lot of "from the vault" tracks included, giving it more heft for buyers and streamers. There are twenty-six songs total, with a run time of 1h46m. The 2008 version clocked at 53 minutes.

Vocally i think she is better now, because she managed her voice well, though she did tour quite a bit she isnt the type to do overdo and her songs dont really call for vocal gymnastics to be done. As for sounding the same, if I were her I wouldnt steer too much away from what your base knows, she doesnt dislike the material or how it was recorded she just hates the business and the fact she was not allowed to buy them because clearly she has the $$ to do so. I think what backfired for someone like PRINCE was the "New Master" he totally uprooted the 1999 song and took all that made it what it was away, it wasnt bad it just wasnt the feel of the original, with someone like PRINCE to re-do masters and recordings its tougher because he had so many players that were the face of the songs too, even if they didnt full all play, they had a hand in the work and it was never easy for PRINCE to go back and work with the past members. For Taylor I dont know her having a set bunch of musicians or maybe they are all still with her, but she isnt someone that has "a band" building up her songs, so she does not have that battle. STYX did this in 1995 when they re-did their first hit LADY because they wanted Tommy Shaw on the song now, and they wanted to release a HITS package but their first label said NO you cant have the master, but a loophole was re-record it, and thats what they did and it was better because of his vocal harmonies and really sounded music wise the same.

I really admire her for putting her money where her mouth is and pressing ahead with this as I bet the people who bought her masters didnt think she'd actually do it. I don't think it'll surpass streams of the original version but it'll certianly put a dent in the value of those original masters.

funkypixie said:

I really admire her for putting her money where her mouth is and pressing ahead with this as I bet the people who bought her masters didnt think she'd actually do it. I don't think it'll surpass streams of the original version but it'll certianly put a dent in the value of those original masters.

I also give her credit on her marketing and selling strategies. I noticed this when she released "Folklore" she did it again with "Evermore" and now she is doing it with "Fearless", she releases it to stream or download digitally, then in about a week or so the cds start hitting stores, even if you had an order on Amazon it's not in stock till Next Friday the earliest, then she plans a vinyl LP release at some point this summer . She did the same with folklore, and evermore, with evermore on vinyl coming May 28th in all sorts of colors and versions and released to different outlets. And it's worked as her albums tend to have a lot of shelf life chart wise, which is tough when you have your loyal base that buy it day one then fall off, her base seems to buy it every way she releases it.

lastdecember said:

funkypixie said:

I really admire her for putting her money where her mouth is and pressing ahead with this as I bet the people who bought her masters didnt think she'd actually do it. I don't think it'll surpass streams of the original version but it'll certianly put a dent in the value of those original masters.

I also give her credit on her marketing and selling strategies. I noticed this when she released "Folklore" she did it again with "Evermore" and now she is doing it with "Fearless", she releases it to stream or download digitally, then in about a week or so the cds start hitting stores, even if you had an order on Amazon it's not in stock till Next Friday the earliest, then she plans a vinyl LP release at some point this summer . She did the same with folklore, and evermore, with evermore on vinyl coming May 28th in all sorts of colors and versions and released to different outlets. And it's worked as her albums tend to have a lot of shelf life chart wise, which is tough when you have your loyal base that buy it day one then fall off, her base seems to buy it every way she releases it.

I agree with you that she has been astute in her career and her recent marketing moves. Instead of trying to make more commercial music to stay popular, she has chosen to do what she wants to and then use shrewd marketying strategies for maximum exposure. She seems to be on the opposite path than most if not all people who became superstars in their teens: She seems to be getting healthier and more mature over the years rather than a picture of self-destruction.