Taylor Swift was not the first artist to re-record earlier material as a way to get ownership of her hits for better financial remuneration, but she’s almost certainly been the most successful. Her extremely loyal fanbase and seemingly still-growing popularity have meant her “Taylor’s Versions” of her song catalog have become the de facto choice for her millions of listeners, and it’s no surprise that there may be other songwriters looking to repeat her gambit. Songwriters like, for instance, Lyfe Jennings, who recently told TMZ he is looking to re-record some of his catalog to get out from under a bad deal with Sony Music, his old label that he claims still owes him some $15 million.
Jennings seems to know he’ll have a hard time getting the royalties he says he’s rightfully owed from Sony, a plight that many recording artists are familiar with. He doesn’t have the financial resources to lawyer up against the label, so he’s re-recording his stuff in a move that he says was inspired by Swift.
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The trouble began for Jennings 20 years ago, when he signed on with Sony for his debut album “Lyfe 268‒192.” According to Jennings, Sony saddled him with a bogus contract that allowed them to keep the lion’s share of his royalties if the record didn’t recoup his expenses and advance payment within three years. So, if you bought a copy of the record or streamed it since 2007 or so, none of the revenue from it made it into Jennings’s mailbox.
So Jennings is re-releasing material under the “(A.O.U.)” banner, similar to the iconic “(Taylor’s Version)” label. That stands for “Artist Owned Umbrella,” starting with “Must Be Nice,” his biggest hit that’s also been re-released with the designation “2024 Reboot.” The new version has reportedly been “touched up” in the recording studio, but hopefully, it retains most of the sound that its fans know and love, which is usually the goal with projects like this one.
Jennings is also encouraging younger artists not to be bilked by record labels that often use big signing bonuses and advances to conceal deals that are worse for artists in the long run, a practice that many other artists have taken issue with in the past. That includes Fred Durst and the other members of Limp Bizkit, who recently filed a $200 million lawsuit against Universal Music Group over a similar situation.