#37 – How to Create Leverage Like Taylor Swift: The Master Recording Battle

This week on S4N, Gene uses Taylor Swift’s legendary dispute over her master recordings to explore what really happens when business partnerships break down – and what you can do when the system isn’t built to favor you.

It’s a story packed with high emotion, high stakes, and a surprising amount of strategic brilliance. But beneath the headlines is a case study in how leverage is built, how it shifts, and how sometimes the most powerful move you can make has nothing to do with contracts at all.

Gene examines what goes wrong when mutual respect disappears from the negotiating table, why reacting effectively to changed circumstances is a make-or-break skill, and how the best negotiators find ways to shift the narrative – even when the law appears to be against them (no, we don’t mean that the best negotiators find ways to break the law…)

This isn’t just a music industry story. It’s a look at how power actually works – and how it gets taken back. You’ll hear how Taylor flipped the game and walk away with a few ideas on how to do the same when the odds are stacked against you.

If you’ve ever been backed into a corner, underestimated, or forced to play by someone else’s rules, this episode offers something more than analysis: it offers a way forward. Remember: negotiation is life.

Mentioned in this episode: 

• Back to School, the 1986 film directed by Alan Metter 
• There's Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift by Kevin Evers
• Taylor Swift vs. Scooter Braun: Bad Blood, the 2024 HBO Max documentary series
• 10-10-10: A Life-Transforming Idea by Suzy Welch
• The Listening Room Cafe, Nashville, TN
• Nashville songwriters:
  • Elysse Yulo
  • Madelyn Paquette
  • Fran Litterski
  • McCall Chapin
  • Sarah Killian
• "Love Thy Neighbor" by McCall Chapin