The last several days have been interesting for Taylor Swift and her fans, who, until now, weren’t sure if the pop star would be cleared to perform her early hits at this year’s American Music Awards on Sunday, November 24. But now, after a public discourse about Swift’s rights as an artist and Big Machine’s rights as a label, the company has released another statement that seemingly approves the performance in question.
“The Big Machine Label Group and Dick Clark Productions announce that they have come to terms on a licensing agreement that approves their artists’ performances to stream post show and for re-broadcast on mutually approved platforms,” the statement reads. “This includes the upcoming American Music Awards performances.”
(Kevin Mazur/WireImage)Without naming Swift specifically, the label also tried to put an end to any confusion regarding whether or not artists need permission from their labels to perform on live TV. “It should be noted that recording artists do not need label approval for live performances on television or any other live media,” the statement continued. “Record label approval is only needed for contracted artists’ audio and visual recordings and in determining how those works are distributed.”
A few hours later, Dick Clark Productions, the producers of the AMAs, released a statement of their own — one that claims they never came to an agreement with Big Machine at all. “At no time did Dick Clark Productions agree to, create, authorize or distribute a statement in partnership with Big Machine Label Group regarding Taylor Swift’s performance at the 2019 American Music Awards,” the statement read. “Any final agreement on this matter needs to be made directly with Taylor Swift’s management team. We have no further comment.”
Though it’s unclear where all parties involved will go from here, there’s one thing we do know for sure: Swifties would love to see Swift perform some of her OG hits. And if what Big Machine said is true, we have a lot to look forward to come Sunday night.
