Morgan Wallen is following the lead of pop superstar Taylor Swift by re-recording a song from her old catalog as a form of protest to derail the plans of some former colleagues.
On Thursday, the country music star took to his Instagram page to give his side of the story of why he decided to cut short a hunting trip to re-record Spin You Around, which is from his debut Extended Play (EP) Stand Alone (2015).
Before hitting the big time in the music industry, Wallen signed a music contract without legal representation, something he deeply regrets in retrospect and which resulted in 13 new songs, five of which made it onto the debut EP.
Now, after almost 10 years since he parted ways with his original team, some of his former colleagues are releasing a 10th anniversary edition of Stand Alone, which goes against his wishes.
Realizing that his former collaborators were about to release that special edition, Wallen and his current team decided to fight back by hastily arranging a recording session in Nashville so that the new version of Spin You Around 1/24 would be released at the same time on Friday. evening.
Morgan Wallen, 30, decided to re-record her song Spin You Around after learning that her former team will be releasing a 10th anniversary edition of her debut EP Stand Alone without her consent.
The Sneedville, Tennessee, native let it be known that he has nothing to do with the re-release of Stand Alone, which basically amounts to the release of eight previously unreleased songs.
The problem is that Wallen didn’t feel those eight songs were good enough to include on the original album, and nothing has changed in the decade since.
‘We made 13 songs. Some were okay, most were terrible as I was just learning how to write in general and figuring it all out,” she explained in the caption of her Instagram post.
‘I wasn’t the only collaborator, so a lot of these songs weren’t my idea or up to my standards. We deemed 5 worthy enough to make the Stand Alone EP which includes a fan favorite, Spin You Around.
The country music star highlighted how his former managers are helping in this project that goes against his wishes.
“For months I have been exploring every possible avenue to acquire the rights to this early music and keep the quality of my catalog consistent with the songs I choose to release and believe in,” he continued. “It’s disgusting, greedy and an example of how the dark side of the music business can suck the soul out of artists.”
It’s obvious that he and his current collaborators watched as Taylor Swift faced a similar situation.
Swift decided to re-record her first six albums after discovering that Scooter Braun bought her former label Big Machine Records and then sold it along with her original Swift masters to the Disney family’s Shamrock Holdings for $405 million on the condition that continue to benefit from the teachers.
Outraged that she supposedly never had the opportunity to make an offer to buy back her masters, Swift has re-recorded four of those albums: Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version), Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Taylor).
Swift now only has two of those old albums left to re-record: her self-titled debut album and Reputation, before she fully owns all of her music again.
Wanting the new version of Spin You Around to coincide with the release of the 10th anniversary edition of Stand Alone, Waller even went so far as to make the single’s cover image himself while he was in the woods duck hunting.
The country singer went on to call the business situation with his former team an example of “how the dark side of the music business can take the soul out of artists.”
Wallen confessed to having signed a music contract without legal representation, which prevented him from owning 13 songs; five songs made it onto Stand Alone (2015), while the other eight remain unreleased until now
The Last Night star changed the name of his first hit single for this protest release, now calling it Spin You Around 1/24, as a way to avoid any legal action.
Wallen maintains that eight of the 13 original songs were not up to his standards, which was part of his motivation for trying to fight their release.
Swift’s plan to own all of her own music involves re-recording her first six albums, to give fans the option of owning the record and not buying the originals that went out of print a few years ago on her former label; she has finished four of those albums to date
To back up her complaints, Waller is also pledging $100,000 from her foundation to the Volunteer Lawyers and Practitioners for the Arts (VLPA) program, in an effort to ensure this sort of thing doesn’t continue to happen to other young artists.
Part of his motivation for taking on his former colleagues was to let fans know that he’s not interested in releasing those old songs and is more focused on delivering new music to his fans.
“I want you to know that this is NOT my new music and I don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” he explained, adding, “I cringe when I listen to these songs and I worry that my fans might mislead me.” I think this is a new release of mine.’
Waller goes on to reveal that he will begin recording new music for his next project at the end of February and that he “feels creatively inspired and very excited to make more music that I’m proud of.”
“I hope young aspiring musicians read this story and know that they should never have to give up their creative freedoms for a chance in this business,” the More Than My Hometown star said.