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HITS Daily Double

TAYLOR TEARS INTO BIG MACHINE FOR REISSUING EARLY TRACKS

Big Machine has released a collection of 2008 live recordings by Taylor Swift that has the superstar crying foul.

Swift took to Instagram on Thursday to blast her former label and Scooter Braun, who bought the company—including her six-album catalog—last year, for releasing a live album of early performances to the DSPs. Swift said she wasn’t aware of the existence of the release—titled Live From Clear Channel 2008—until fans brought it to her attention.

She accused Braun of “shameless greed in the time of coronavirus,” while at the same time seeming to mock him, along with financial backers 23 Capital, Alex Soros, the Soros family and the Carlyle Group.

What Swift didn’t mention was that (as our crack research team determined) all eight tracks on Live From Clear Channel 2008—recorded during a radio show when she was 18—have been available in various places for the past 12 years.

Three of the tracks received commercial releases in 2009: The versions of “Fearless” and “Untouchable” appeared on Target’s deluxe edition of Fearless, and “Love Story” was on the CD single of “You Belong With Me.” The other five tracks have been available on YouTube for more than nine years.

Taylor will, of course, receive payment from the release. So what will she do with the check—tear it up or deposit it?