December 27, 2021 • 22 mins
Women in music have shattered some records and changed the industry this year. We gush over the accomplishments of Olivia Rodrigo, Adele, Taylor Swift and Megan Thee Stallion.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and that kind of
stuff I've never told your production of I Heart Radio.
And we are going to time stamp this one because
we're talking about some things that are ongoing or changing.
Today is December one. I feel like the listeners are
(00:28):
getting a real behind the curtains peak of how much
we recorded one day stuff for a time stamping. But
we have to or we will be told. This is
our date. We know, yep, yep, it was in date
most exactly in date up to date. So yes, as
(00:50):
we mentioned in our previous Monday Many, we are coming
to the end of one and we wanted to do
a few episodes rounding up some amazing stuff women have
been accomplishing recently that have been in the news, and
this is our our musical edition of ladies smashing some
records and being absolute powerhouses. And breakups, so many breakups.
(01:13):
All the breakups, I will say, some of the women
we were talking about. I have been listening on Spotify
and every time my partner goes should I be worried?
What are you trying to say to me? What is
happening me too? I've been listening to them a lot.
I have songs from all of these women on my
Tragedy fan fiction playlist. Oh yeah, I did. I did
(01:37):
tell him at one point. I was like, look, let
me just pretend like we broke up and be sad. Okay,
I just need this. That is a fan fiction plot.
That is a fan fiction plot that actually featured the
first person we're going to talk about, Rotterego perfect. But
they're also on my sad but Hopeful more a beat
fan fiction playlists. These women, Let's start with Olivia Rodrigo,
(01:59):
who was just named Entertainer of the Year by Time
magazine at just eighteen years old. Rodrigo, who already had
a fan base thanks to her work with Disney, released
the single Driver's License in January, and it took off
a TikTok staple that was also featured on an SNL
skit which we talked about on this very show actually,
when we talked about like sad, Like why do we
(02:20):
get these love songs that are so sad? Why do
they speak to all of us? Yes, And she actually
later ended up performing that song on SNL and Yeah,
people of all ages and backgrounds have really loved it.
Really connected to the teen angst of it, all of
it all, Yes, Yes. On January one, she became the
(02:42):
youngest solo artist ever to debut at number one on
the Billboard Hot one hundred. The song remained on the
Billboard Hot one hundred for eight weeks. In May one,
she debuted her album Sour, and it was praised by
critics and fans alike. Sour became Spotify's most popular release
by a female art in the first week, with three
hundred and eighty five million streams. The album garnered seven
(03:06):
Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist and Song, Record and
Album of the Year. Spotify announced she had the most
dream album and Song of the Year, and she appeared
at the White House to encourage young folks to get vaccinated.
So a big year for her, And we should say, like,
we are condensing a lot of what these women have
accomplished to this year here alone. We know they're really
(03:29):
huge all the years. Yes, yes. And also a lot
of the women were talking about have kind of broken
each other's records, like really recently, right, So there's also that,
but still a lot a lot. While Rodrigo will return
for season three of the High School Musical series, she
has also said quote songwriting is the thing I take
most seriously in my life. It's the most personally gratifying too,
(03:50):
and it's something she's been doing since she was very young. Um,
And in light of what's going on with Taylor Swift,
which we are going to get to, she has a
deal with her record lay Able to own her masters,
that is the copyright to the recordings of her songs,
something that hasn't traditionally been granted to artists. She has
faced accusations that her songs sound similar to others. She
(04:11):
credits Swift and two members of Paramore on her tracks
two separate checks, and she's been open about how it's
been frustrating to have her creativity called into question, but
also that it has been a learning experience about the
business side of music, something she claims it's absolutely critical
as a musician. And this is part of a bigger
conversation which we don't really have time to get into
right now, but we are going to touch on more
(04:31):
about influence and crediting and yeah, ownership in the music industry.
It's just it's really a big conversation right now. Um,
here's another quote. Young women are constantly compared to each
other I'm the new this are this woman meets that woman,
and that could be reductive. I'm just Olivia. I'm doing
my own thing. It's meaningful when people recognize that. Yes,
(04:54):
I will say, I don't know many of our songs.
I think I can recognize one or two because even
though yes, teenage jas can't travel all over the place,
I feel like I'm I'm eavesdropping on the younger kids,
you know what I mean. Like, I'm like, I'm not sure.
I'm not supposed to be listening to those I think
this is not for me, Like, not because I don't
want to. It's just more of a permission. Wise, am
(05:16):
I supposed to? I don't know, but I know she
does a good job and she's got a lot of
the fields. And speaking of the fields, we have to
talk about within this season of broken hearts, Adele releasing
her newest album, thirty Perfect. Her single easy on Me
quickly swept through all the hearts that I've ever been broken,
whether it was a paper cut or the deep tear
(05:38):
that still makes you tear up today though it happened
way back in second grade. I still think about you, Matt,
just kidding, I don't and her album became one of
the fastest selling albums in one and this being only
her fourth album since her original album nineteen So it's
kind of funny because she doesn't release often, so therefore
we anticipated so much more and it is a bigger deal. Um,
(06:01):
and it's highly anticipated by not only her fan base,
but again most people with hearts. Right if you have,
My mom loves Adele and I I was like, right
when I heard this, I pre ordered it. I was like,
that's a Christmas gift because I couldn't wait. Of course.
Well also stuff like that most likely she would buy
(06:21):
for herself exactly. Uh and yeah, and her standards and
ideas have brought on a new functionality on a mega
music app Spotify. As a woman with a specific intent
when it comes to the craft, she has been able
to convince Spotify to change this default option of shuffling
the album by having the album play as it is
(06:43):
laid out in her records. In this intent, she tweeted,
this was the only request I had in our ever
changing industry. We don't create albums with so much care
and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our
art tells the story, and our stories should be listened
to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening. Um.
And yes there came a lot of mixed reactions because
(07:04):
people love the shuffle button. I am one of those,
mainly because I am still scarred by iPod when you
would create the car fit was plugged in that the
one song kept playing every time and you end up
hating it. I really think that was the generation for me.
Not gonna lie um and which Spotify responded on their
(07:24):
Twitter anything for you, as they should. But they did
also release a statement saying, quote, as Adele mentioned, we
are excited to share that we have begun rolling out
a new premium feature that has been long requested by
both users and artists, to make play the default button
on all albums. Again, this is from a spokesperson from
Spotify talking to cnn UH. They continue, for those users
(07:47):
still wishing to shuffle an album, they can go to
the now playing view and select the shuffle toggle. As always,
we will continue to iterate our products and features to
create the best experiences for both artists and their fans.
And we know Spotify has kind of a spotty his
record when it comes to yeah, I did it. When
it comes to how they treat their artists. Just recently,
(08:11):
all the comedians are slowly pulling off their albums because
they're not giving the credit in the monetary compensations that
musicians are, So we do see a lot of that,
but it's good to see that they're talking listening to
one artist, I guess and to no one's surprise, her
single broke the most stream song in a day this
previous month, so she's been breaking records as well. And
(08:32):
if you need some more Adele, as we all do,
she has signed on for a residency in Las Vegas,
which is to start in January of twenty twenty two
at the Colisseum of Las Vegas Caesar's Palace hotel, titled
Weekends with Adele. I like this and we'll perform two
shows each weekend through Saturday, April two for twelve weeks.
(08:54):
Andy can we go? I wonder if we can get
the company to pay for it. We needed to make
this need to the other day, I was listening to
Adele and I was drinking wine and that song wide
Game on and I was sitting there like wine, wine,
I only soak up wine makes me laugh, and then
(09:19):
you climb into it and then I, UM, now, yes,
so we have to talk about Taylor Swift, who has
also had a huge record breaking year. But before we
(09:42):
get into that, let's go back to this master's thing.
So this is really complicated and we're gonna try to
condense it. UM. I imagine a lot of you have
looked it up. But briefly, Taylor Swift masters have been
sold three times without her consent. Swift's former label, Big
Machine Record Label, was acquired by artist manager school Or
Braun's Ithaca Holdings LLC, and Taylor Swift and Braun do
(10:04):
not have a good relationship, to say the least. Swift
calls him a bully and said he was quote the
definition of toxic mail privilege in her industry. Um and
Braun then sold the masters to her first six albums
from her debut album to Reputation UM to a private
equity firm called Shamrock Capital and for three hundred million dollars.
(10:26):
The urn back value is speculated to be around four
fifty million dollars, though some think that thanks to Swiss actions,
the value could be substantially less. Um and She's been
very open about her unhappiness with this and how she
feels she was not given a viable option to purchase
the masters herself. She said, quote, the fact is that
private equity enabled this man to think, according to his
(10:48):
own social media post, that he could quote buy me.
But I'm obviously not going willingly. By not owning her masters,
she doesn't benefit from them. She can't control how they're
used in terms of things like movies are television and
is limited and what she can perform at concerts. So
this is ten years of her life, her life's work,
out of her control without being consulted about it at all.
(11:10):
In an effort to listen the value of these masters,
Swift pledge to re record them herself, a pledge she
has so far upheld. Her contract allows for this after
a certain amount of time has passed. Like normally there's
a pretty long period, but um, she probably has one
that's shorter as like just the album cycle period. When
she signed her a new contract with the Universal Music Group,
(11:32):
she secured ownership of all albums she would create with them,
including the re recordings. Yes, very very savvy. This year
she recorded and released Fearless and Read Taylor's version Um.
When Red was released in November one, Spotify announced it
broke two records in one day, one for the most
(11:52):
streamed album by a woman in Spotify history, with eight
million streams, beating the previous record held by Taylor Swift
with seven eight point seven million streams fores album Folklore.
She also broke the record for most stream female artists
in a single day with one and twenty two point
nine million streams. She broke a record held by the
(12:12):
Beatles for over fifty years in the UK with the
fastest run of successive number one albums ever. Her ten
minutes song All Too Well. Taylor's version broke the record
previously held by Don mcclean's American Pie for longest song
to hold the top spot on the Billboard Top one
hundred for the longest period of time. That us a
very specific keep going. That's a big one for like
(12:37):
a long song to hold that spot for that long.
And so this song that's like fifty years before she
broke it, I think in between and so she sent
mcclaim flowers and he was like, oh, this was the best.
She also broke the record for most songs on the
Billboard Top one hundred simultaneously by a woman. The twenty
(12:58):
six songs from read Taylor's version and just if y I.
Throughout her career, she set thirty world records. Now, I
do think Adele some of the records you mentioned broke
some of these records. I'm pretty sure I can't remember
because I came out around the same time. So who
out did the other either? But like, okay, I just
(13:19):
said the previous month, I'm going to just hold to that.
I think they can't. Yeah, they did come out right
around the same time. I think Adele came out a
little later, but anyway, trying. Oh but this whole thing
is jump started a conversation around yeah, ownership of music
and the treatment of female artists. This isn't the first
time Swift has been vocal about how the music industry
(13:41):
screws artists and songwriters over financially and otherwise. She started
a whole conversation about streaming services like Spotify and artist
conversation um, like we were talking about with Scarlett Johansson
in our previous episode. Swift is one of the biggest
musicians out there, So if this is the kind of
deal she is getting, think of what artists without her
(14:02):
resources and further impacted by intersections like Race are getting
um and also younger artists. It's another example of women
facing off against mainly male lead industrial leaders just to
get what they're do. She's definitely not the first artist
to speak out about this by far. Prince was very
outspoken about his belief that artists should own their music,
(14:22):
and the Beatles, TLC, Kelly Clarkson and Kesha have fought
to get their masters back, among others. So very big conversation.
But this whole thing is also changed the industry. Fans
and corporations, including I Heart, which is interesting because we
don't technically own this, um have pledged it all my
listen to the Taylor's version of her songs, which so
(14:45):
far have surpassed listenership of the originals, and a short
amount of time Olivia Rodrigo spoke about how this influenced
her to make sure she got ownership, as we discussed earlier.
Music labels meanwhile, are putting in stipulations preventing artists from
re recording their work. So like trying to get around right,
I'm telling you there's all these like sneaky things. Because
(15:07):
when we were talking about previously about the mandatory arbitration,
it was specifically after people started suing for not giving
them their wages and or any discrimination, and they're like, oh,
we're having to pay too much in legal fees and
oh they may win lots more money than we want
to give them. So after that happened, that's when they're like,
you know, we're gonna steak this in so you can't
sue us and we don't have to pay you a
(15:28):
lot of money and we can still look good. Yeah,
this aftermath thing is interesting. Yeah, yeah, it's annoying. It's
very annoying for a lot of reasons because, like, again,
if you can't afford a lawyer, or I can just
imagine being so excited to get a deal and I
don't know what that I think it's okay, and then
you sign it and then later like what, well, I
(15:51):
mean you and I could talk about it personally without
even just jobs and having to learn from previous hosts
and me coming in with no money, like I can't
afford the all or how did y'all do this? No
wonder people just signed on the dime line because they're like,
well it's more than I was making. Yeah. Yeah, And
that's why having those having women speak up about it
and kind of share their experiences and what they learned
(16:13):
is so so so important. And yeah, if I I know,
I joked about this with you, Samantha, but I was
looking at all the albums she has left to rerecord
or she continues that if I was anybody who had
done her wrong, I'd be raising funds to buy her
masters to get them back so rerecorded. I mean, there's
definitely this like oh this name of like the past
(16:37):
exos who are running away like they have. So many
of the Taylor Swift fans or people just in general
are like, oh, they better watched their backs. That's happening,
that's coming yep, yep ye. And those conversations about militant
fan bases, the power of nostalgia, which is I find
really interesting because I've heard a lot of people who
are like, I remember listening to this when I was
(16:58):
so much younger, and now it's it's like still resting
um current lawsuits that Swift is facing, weaponization of memory.
Those their topics for a different day. Uh, but yeah,
this is a huge conversation that is happening, right, And
(17:26):
I didn't want to talk a little bit just quickly
about the current laws, So that has happened over infringement
rights for the song shake It Off, which we know
she kind of did some copyrighting of specific phrases and such.
But this actually started in seventeen by songwriter Sean Hall
and Nathan Butler, who wrote the songs play is Gonna
Play for three l W three Little Women really cute
little hip hop group if you don't know. It was
(17:46):
originally dismissed in eighteen by the US the Street Court,
but has been repelled and is set to go to
court in August two. And it's big news because they
are actually having to go to court, uh, instead of
just doing settlement. So it's going to be an interest
conversation for sure. Yes, and we will see how that
plays out. Um. And then we wandered around this this
(18:08):
list out with Megan the Stallion, who topped TikTok's usage
catalog for the second year in a row. It's true, um.
And if you have gone through TikTok like I have,
I've seen the dances. I will say one of her
big songs kind of missed one of the day's routines
because it was a winter of Black Creators stopped. It
was like you try it yourself, and it was quite comical.
(18:29):
We did talk about it because the instructions were there
and still did not happen. But all that to say, um,
and then there has been a bit of drama with
Megan the Stallion, so we didn't want to talk more
about that, not talking about exactly her past abusive relationship
with Tory Lanes forget him. But we're actually talking about
more battles with the labels. And one of the battles
(18:50):
happened with BTS, which is the big hite pop group
that we all know and love, with the remix of Butter,
which by the way, is one of the number one songs. UM.
Even with song's success in the Billboards number one spot
for over nine weeks, Megan's lawyers had to sue her
label fIF one after the label claim quote the song
would not be good for her career and requested on
(19:11):
top of that a hundred thousand dollar fee for it
to be even released and would take the profits of
the song. So all of these things happened because they
would not release the song. Her lawyers had to request
a restraining order to quote keep the label from stopping
the release. So they were just gonna flat out and
do this. Um. There's so many questions, including from Megan,
why there was such a pushback from them, with even
(19:32):
Megan having to remind them the value of international exposure
from this massive group, the collaboration which has been talked about,
like they've been kind of talking about it back and
forth on Twitter, wanting to collaborate, and everybody was really
excited about it, and it was getting a lot of publicity. Uh.
She was granted the order by a Texas judge and
has since then released a single which is fantastic. If
(19:52):
you haven't heard it, definitely, I'm not listening. Um. And
this is the second law. So she just had to
file against her record label in order to release her
own work, which by the way, again was her previous album,
which is on some of the top of the charts,
including in TikTok Hello Um. She's also requested to be
released from the record contract, but at this point, I've
not heard anything about that, if that's going to happen
(20:14):
or it's even going into court. And of course we
have to talk about the amazing fans who always has
to take that extra step after the legal implications of
the release of the remix of Butter. Fans of both
artists raised over a hundred thousand dollars in support of
Megan and donated to organizations like Black Women for Wellness,
Women for Afghan Women, and the Houston Food Bank. So amazing.
(20:37):
When we talk about the fan bases, my gosh, they
get done, that's all. And also we wanted to tell
our personal friend, I wish Megan congratulations on her graduation
from Texas Southern University with a Bachelor of Science degree
in health administration, and she tweeted, good morning, Hattie's it's
graduation day. I can't do it like her, so we're
(20:58):
not even try hashtag Megan the graduate and talking about
all the women who have been influences in her life,
including her late mother and her grandmother's She also talked
about the possible future plans, saying, you know what, I'm
going to open an assisted living facility and use the
money that I make from wrapping to open it. Then
I'm gonna let my classmates run it. So I love
that idea. I love that she continues to push forward
(21:20):
and grows. This is beautiful, Yes, yes, Chess, all of
this so inspiring. We're seeing women really shaking up things
and getting like technologies to change, love it, love it,
and we get all this fantastic music out of it. Well, listeners,
are there any artists that have been on your playlists
(21:42):
at the end of the year, Any songs we should
shout out, Any artists we should shout out? Please let
us know. You can email at stuff Idia mom stuff
at iHeart media dot com. You can find us on
Twitter at mom Stop podcast or on Instagram at stuff
I Never Told You. Thanks as always to our superproducer Christina,
who was also killing it. Oh yes, and thanks to
you for this thing. Top one never told his protection
of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts on my heart
(22:03):
Radio is a via radio app, Apple podcast or regulas
into favorite shows. H
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and that kind of
stuff I've never told your production of I Heart Radio.
And we are going to time stamp this one because
we're talking about some things that are ongoing or changing.
Today is December one. I feel like the listeners are
(00:28):
getting a real behind the curtains peak of how much
we recorded one day stuff for a time stamping. But
we have to or we will be told. This is
our date. We know, yep, yep, it was in date
most exactly in date up to date. So yes, as
(00:50):
we mentioned in our previous Monday Many, we are coming
to the end of one and we wanted to do
a few episodes rounding up some amazing stuff women have
been accomplishing recently that have been in the news, and
this is our our musical edition of ladies smashing some
records and being absolute powerhouses. And breakups, so many breakups.
(01:13):
All the breakups, I will say, some of the women
we were talking about. I have been listening on Spotify
and every time my partner goes should I be worried?
What are you trying to say to me? What is
happening me too? I've been listening to them a lot.
I have songs from all of these women on my
Tragedy fan fiction playlist. Oh yeah, I did. I did
(01:37):
tell him at one point. I was like, look, let
me just pretend like we broke up and be sad. Okay,
I just need this. That is a fan fiction plot.
That is a fan fiction plot that actually featured the
first person we're going to talk about, Rotterego perfect. But
they're also on my sad but Hopeful more a beat
fan fiction playlists. These women, Let's start with Olivia Rodrigo,
(01:59):
who was just named Entertainer of the Year by Time
magazine at just eighteen years old. Rodrigo, who already had
a fan base thanks to her work with Disney, released
the single Driver's License in January, and it took off
a TikTok staple that was also featured on an SNL
skit which we talked about on this very show actually,
when we talked about like sad, Like why do we
(02:20):
get these love songs that are so sad? Why do
they speak to all of us? Yes, And she actually
later ended up performing that song on SNL and Yeah,
people of all ages and backgrounds have really loved it.
Really connected to the teen angst of it, all of
it all, Yes, Yes. On January one, she became the
(02:42):
youngest solo artist ever to debut at number one on
the Billboard Hot one hundred. The song remained on the
Billboard Hot one hundred for eight weeks. In May one,
she debuted her album Sour, and it was praised by
critics and fans alike. Sour became Spotify's most popular release
by a female art in the first week, with three
hundred and eighty five million streams. The album garnered seven
(03:06):
Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist and Song, Record and
Album of the Year. Spotify announced she had the most
dream album and Song of the Year, and she appeared
at the White House to encourage young folks to get vaccinated.
So a big year for her, And we should say, like,
we are condensing a lot of what these women have
accomplished to this year here alone. We know they're really
(03:29):
huge all the years. Yes, yes. And also a lot
of the women were talking about have kind of broken
each other's records, like really recently, right, So there's also that,
but still a lot a lot. While Rodrigo will return
for season three of the High School Musical series, she
has also said quote songwriting is the thing I take
most seriously in my life. It's the most personally gratifying too,
(03:50):
and it's something she's been doing since she was very young. Um,
And in light of what's going on with Taylor Swift,
which we are going to get to, she has a
deal with her record lay Able to own her masters,
that is the copyright to the recordings of her songs,
something that hasn't traditionally been granted to artists. She has
faced accusations that her songs sound similar to others. She
(04:11):
credits Swift and two members of Paramore on her tracks
two separate checks, and she's been open about how it's
been frustrating to have her creativity called into question, but
also that it has been a learning experience about the
business side of music, something she claims it's absolutely critical
as a musician. And this is part of a bigger
conversation which we don't really have time to get into
right now, but we are going to touch on more
(04:31):
about influence and crediting and yeah, ownership in the music industry.
It's just it's really a big conversation right now. Um,
here's another quote. Young women are constantly compared to each
other I'm the new this are this woman meets that woman,
and that could be reductive. I'm just Olivia. I'm doing
my own thing. It's meaningful when people recognize that. Yes,
(04:54):
I will say, I don't know many of our songs.
I think I can recognize one or two because even
though yes, teenage jas can't travel all over the place,
I feel like I'm I'm eavesdropping on the younger kids,
you know what I mean. Like, I'm like, I'm not sure.
I'm not supposed to be listening to those I think
this is not for me, Like, not because I don't
want to. It's just more of a permission. Wise, am
(05:16):
I supposed to? I don't know, but I know she
does a good job and she's got a lot of
the fields. And speaking of the fields, we have to
talk about within this season of broken hearts, Adele releasing
her newest album, thirty Perfect. Her single easy on Me
quickly swept through all the hearts that I've ever been broken,
whether it was a paper cut or the deep tear
(05:38):
that still makes you tear up today though it happened
way back in second grade. I still think about you, Matt,
just kidding, I don't and her album became one of
the fastest selling albums in one and this being only
her fourth album since her original album nineteen So it's
kind of funny because she doesn't release often, so therefore
we anticipated so much more and it is a bigger deal. Um,
(06:01):
and it's highly anticipated by not only her fan base,
but again most people with hearts. Right if you have,
My mom loves Adele and I I was like, right
when I heard this, I pre ordered it. I was like,
that's a Christmas gift because I couldn't wait. Of course.
Well also stuff like that most likely she would buy
(06:21):
for herself exactly. Uh and yeah, and her standards and
ideas have brought on a new functionality on a mega
music app Spotify. As a woman with a specific intent
when it comes to the craft, she has been able
to convince Spotify to change this default option of shuffling
the album by having the album play as it is
(06:43):
laid out in her records. In this intent, she tweeted,
this was the only request I had in our ever
changing industry. We don't create albums with so much care
and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our
art tells the story, and our stories should be listened
to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening. Um.
And yes there came a lot of mixed reactions because
(07:04):
people love the shuffle button. I am one of those,
mainly because I am still scarred by iPod when you
would create the car fit was plugged in that the
one song kept playing every time and you end up
hating it. I really think that was the generation for me.
Not gonna lie um and which Spotify responded on their
(07:24):
Twitter anything for you, as they should. But they did
also release a statement saying, quote, as Adele mentioned, we
are excited to share that we have begun rolling out
a new premium feature that has been long requested by
both users and artists, to make play the default button
on all albums. Again, this is from a spokesperson from
Spotify talking to cnn UH. They continue, for those users
(07:47):
still wishing to shuffle an album, they can go to
the now playing view and select the shuffle toggle. As always,
we will continue to iterate our products and features to
create the best experiences for both artists and their fans.
And we know Spotify has kind of a spotty his
record when it comes to yeah, I did it. When
it comes to how they treat their artists. Just recently,
(08:11):
all the comedians are slowly pulling off their albums because
they're not giving the credit in the monetary compensations that
musicians are, So we do see a lot of that,
but it's good to see that they're talking listening to
one artist, I guess and to no one's surprise, her
single broke the most stream song in a day this
previous month, so she's been breaking records as well. And
(08:32):
if you need some more Adele, as we all do,
she has signed on for a residency in Las Vegas,
which is to start in January of twenty twenty two
at the Colisseum of Las Vegas Caesar's Palace hotel, titled
Weekends with Adele. I like this and we'll perform two
shows each weekend through Saturday, April two for twelve weeks.
(08:54):
Andy can we go? I wonder if we can get
the company to pay for it. We needed to make
this need to the other day, I was listening to
Adele and I was drinking wine and that song wide
Game on and I was sitting there like wine, wine,
I only soak up wine makes me laugh, and then
(09:19):
you climb into it and then I, UM, now, yes,
so we have to talk about Taylor Swift, who has
also had a huge record breaking year. But before we
(09:42):
get into that, let's go back to this master's thing.
So this is really complicated and we're gonna try to
condense it. UM. I imagine a lot of you have
looked it up. But briefly, Taylor Swift masters have been
sold three times without her consent. Swift's former label, Big
Machine Record Label, was acquired by artist manager school Or
Braun's Ithaca Holdings LLC, and Taylor Swift and Braun do
(10:04):
not have a good relationship, to say the least. Swift
calls him a bully and said he was quote the
definition of toxic mail privilege in her industry. Um and
Braun then sold the masters to her first six albums
from her debut album to Reputation UM to a private
equity firm called Shamrock Capital and for three hundred million dollars.
(10:26):
The urn back value is speculated to be around four
fifty million dollars, though some think that thanks to Swiss actions,
the value could be substantially less. Um and She's been
very open about her unhappiness with this and how she
feels she was not given a viable option to purchase
the masters herself. She said, quote, the fact is that
private equity enabled this man to think, according to his
(10:48):
own social media post, that he could quote buy me.
But I'm obviously not going willingly. By not owning her masters,
she doesn't benefit from them. She can't control how they're
used in terms of things like movies are television and
is limited and what she can perform at concerts. So
this is ten years of her life, her life's work,
out of her control without being consulted about it at all.
(11:10):
In an effort to listen the value of these masters,
Swift pledge to re record them herself, a pledge she
has so far upheld. Her contract allows for this after
a certain amount of time has passed. Like normally there's
a pretty long period, but um, she probably has one
that's shorter as like just the album cycle period. When
she signed her a new contract with the Universal Music Group,
(11:32):
she secured ownership of all albums she would create with them,
including the re recordings. Yes, very very savvy. This year
she recorded and released Fearless and Read Taylor's version Um.
When Red was released in November one, Spotify announced it
broke two records in one day, one for the most
(11:52):
streamed album by a woman in Spotify history, with eight
million streams, beating the previous record held by Taylor Swift
with seven eight point seven million streams fores album Folklore.
She also broke the record for most stream female artists
in a single day with one and twenty two point
nine million streams. She broke a record held by the
(12:12):
Beatles for over fifty years in the UK with the
fastest run of successive number one albums ever. Her ten
minutes song All Too Well. Taylor's version broke the record
previously held by Don mcclean's American Pie for longest song
to hold the top spot on the Billboard Top one
hundred for the longest period of time. That us a
very specific keep going. That's a big one for like
(12:37):
a long song to hold that spot for that long.
And so this song that's like fifty years before she
broke it, I think in between and so she sent
mcclaim flowers and he was like, oh, this was the best.
She also broke the record for most songs on the
Billboard Top one hundred simultaneously by a woman. The twenty
(12:58):
six songs from read Taylor's version and just if y I.
Throughout her career, she set thirty world records. Now, I
do think Adele some of the records you mentioned broke
some of these records. I'm pretty sure I can't remember
because I came out around the same time. So who
out did the other either? But like, okay, I just
(13:19):
said the previous month, I'm going to just hold to that.
I think they can't. Yeah, they did come out right
around the same time. I think Adele came out a
little later, but anyway, trying. Oh but this whole thing
is jump started a conversation around yeah, ownership of music
and the treatment of female artists. This isn't the first
time Swift has been vocal about how the music industry
(13:41):
screws artists and songwriters over financially and otherwise. She started
a whole conversation about streaming services like Spotify and artist
conversation um, like we were talking about with Scarlett Johansson
in our previous episode. Swift is one of the biggest
musicians out there, So if this is the kind of
deal she is getting, think of what artists without her
(14:02):
resources and further impacted by intersections like Race are getting
um and also younger artists. It's another example of women
facing off against mainly male lead industrial leaders just to
get what they're do. She's definitely not the first artist
to speak out about this by far. Prince was very
outspoken about his belief that artists should own their music,
(14:22):
and the Beatles, TLC, Kelly Clarkson and Kesha have fought
to get their masters back, among others. So very big conversation.
But this whole thing is also changed the industry. Fans
and corporations, including I Heart, which is interesting because we
don't technically own this, um have pledged it all my
listen to the Taylor's version of her songs, which so
(14:45):
far have surpassed listenership of the originals, and a short
amount of time Olivia Rodrigo spoke about how this influenced
her to make sure she got ownership, as we discussed earlier.
Music labels meanwhile, are putting in stipulations preventing artists from
re recording their work. So like trying to get around right,
I'm telling you there's all these like sneaky things. Because
(15:07):
when we were talking about previously about the mandatory arbitration,
it was specifically after people started suing for not giving
them their wages and or any discrimination, and they're like, oh,
we're having to pay too much in legal fees and
oh they may win lots more money than we want
to give them. So after that happened, that's when they're like,
you know, we're gonna steak this in so you can't
sue us and we don't have to pay you a
(15:28):
lot of money and we can still look good. Yeah,
this aftermath thing is interesting. Yeah, yeah, it's annoying. It's
very annoying for a lot of reasons because, like, again,
if you can't afford a lawyer, or I can just
imagine being so excited to get a deal and I
don't know what that I think it's okay, and then
you sign it and then later like what, well, I
(15:51):
mean you and I could talk about it personally without
even just jobs and having to learn from previous hosts
and me coming in with no money, like I can't
afford the all or how did y'all do this? No
wonder people just signed on the dime line because they're like,
well it's more than I was making. Yeah. Yeah, And
that's why having those having women speak up about it
and kind of share their experiences and what they learned
(16:13):
is so so so important. And yeah, if I I know,
I joked about this with you, Samantha, but I was
looking at all the albums she has left to rerecord
or she continues that if I was anybody who had
done her wrong, I'd be raising funds to buy her
masters to get them back so rerecorded. I mean, there's
definitely this like oh this name of like the past
(16:37):
exos who are running away like they have. So many
of the Taylor Swift fans or people just in general
are like, oh, they better watched their backs. That's happening,
that's coming yep, yep ye. And those conversations about militant
fan bases, the power of nostalgia, which is I find
really interesting because I've heard a lot of people who
are like, I remember listening to this when I was
(16:58):
so much younger, and now it's it's like still resting
um current lawsuits that Swift is facing, weaponization of memory.
Those their topics for a different day. Uh, but yeah,
this is a huge conversation that is happening, right, And
(17:26):
I didn't want to talk a little bit just quickly
about the current laws, So that has happened over infringement
rights for the song shake It Off, which we know
she kind of did some copyrighting of specific phrases and such.
But this actually started in seventeen by songwriter Sean Hall
and Nathan Butler, who wrote the songs play is Gonna
Play for three l W three Little Women really cute
little hip hop group if you don't know. It was
(17:46):
originally dismissed in eighteen by the US the Street Court,
but has been repelled and is set to go to
court in August two. And it's big news because they
are actually having to go to court, uh, instead of
just doing settlement. So it's going to be an interest
conversation for sure. Yes, and we will see how that
plays out. Um. And then we wandered around this this
(18:08):
list out with Megan the Stallion, who topped TikTok's usage
catalog for the second year in a row. It's true, um.
And if you have gone through TikTok like I have,
I've seen the dances. I will say one of her
big songs kind of missed one of the day's routines
because it was a winter of Black Creators stopped. It
was like you try it yourself, and it was quite comical.
(18:29):
We did talk about it because the instructions were there
and still did not happen. But all that to say, um,
and then there has been a bit of drama with
Megan the Stallion, so we didn't want to talk more
about that, not talking about exactly her past abusive relationship
with Tory Lanes forget him. But we're actually talking about
more battles with the labels. And one of the battles
(18:50):
happened with BTS, which is the big hite pop group
that we all know and love, with the remix of Butter,
which by the way, is one of the number one songs. UM.
Even with song's success in the Billboards number one spot
for over nine weeks, Megan's lawyers had to sue her
label fIF one after the label claim quote the song
would not be good for her career and requested on
(19:11):
top of that a hundred thousand dollar fee for it
to be even released and would take the profits of
the song. So all of these things happened because they
would not release the song. Her lawyers had to request
a restraining order to quote keep the label from stopping
the release. So they were just gonna flat out and
do this. Um. There's so many questions, including from Megan,
why there was such a pushback from them, with even
(19:32):
Megan having to remind them the value of international exposure
from this massive group, the collaboration which has been talked about,
like they've been kind of talking about it back and
forth on Twitter, wanting to collaborate, and everybody was really
excited about it, and it was getting a lot of publicity. Uh.
She was granted the order by a Texas judge and
has since then released a single which is fantastic. If
(19:52):
you haven't heard it, definitely, I'm not listening. Um. And
this is the second law. So she just had to
file against her record label in order to release her
own work, which by the way, again was her previous album,
which is on some of the top of the charts,
including in TikTok Hello Um. She's also requested to be
released from the record contract, but at this point, I've
not heard anything about that, if that's going to happen
(20:14):
or it's even going into court. And of course we
have to talk about the amazing fans who always has
to take that extra step after the legal implications of
the release of the remix of Butter. Fans of both
artists raised over a hundred thousand dollars in support of
Megan and donated to organizations like Black Women for Wellness,
Women for Afghan Women, and the Houston Food Bank. So amazing.
(20:37):
When we talk about the fan bases, my gosh, they
get done, that's all. And also we wanted to tell
our personal friend, I wish Megan congratulations on her graduation
from Texas Southern University with a Bachelor of Science degree
in health administration, and she tweeted, good morning, Hattie's it's
graduation day. I can't do it like her, so we're
(20:58):
not even try hashtag Megan the graduate and talking about
all the women who have been influences in her life,
including her late mother and her grandmother's She also talked
about the possible future plans, saying, you know what, I'm
going to open an assisted living facility and use the
money that I make from wrapping to open it. Then
I'm gonna let my classmates run it. So I love
that idea. I love that she continues to push forward
(21:20):
and grows. This is beautiful, Yes, yes, Chess, all of
this so inspiring. We're seeing women really shaking up things
and getting like technologies to change, love it, love it,
and we get all this fantastic music out of it. Well, listeners,
are there any artists that have been on your playlists
(21:42):
at the end of the year, Any songs we should
shout out, Any artists we should shout out? Please let
us know. You can email at stuff Idia mom stuff
at iHeart media dot com. You can find us on
Twitter at mom Stop podcast or on Instagram at stuff
I Never Told You. Thanks as always to our superproducer Christina,
who was also killing it. Oh yes, and thanks to
you for this thing. Top one never told his protection
of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts on my heart
(22:03):
Radio is a via radio app, Apple podcast or regulas
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