Taylor Swift – No ‘Blank Space’ Over Intellectual Property Rights

Taylor Swift is not just a hugely successful singer-songwriter, but it turns out that she also knows how to exploit the intellectual property rights in her work.

First, she took steps to maximise the value of the copyright in her music. Now she has applied for the registration of trade marks in some of her lyrics to allow those to be exploited on merchandise. Taylor Swift has provided another perfect illustration of how entrepreneurs and SMEs can learn from the world of entertainment about how to exploit their intellectual property rights for maximum commercial gain.

She also pulled her music off Spotify just before her new CD “1989” was released.  As one of the most popular artists on Spotify, featuring on 19 million playlists, this caused quite a stir.

Copyright subsists in the lyrics and music of a song; and also in the sound recording. It is this that allows writers, artists, producers and record companies to control the exploitation of their work and to be paid for it.

Until recently artists earned much of their income from record sales, but the onset of digital music led to a rise in piracy and unlawful file sharing with the resulting loss of revenue. Spotify has led the way in providing lawful streaming services, but the royalties paid are less than what would be paid on the purchase of the music.

“I am not willing” Taylor was quoted as saying on taking this step, “To contribute my life’s work to that which I don’t feel fairly compensates the writers, producers artists and creators of music“.

Spotify accepted in reply that “Artists have an absolute right to be paid for their work and protected from piracy”, and pointed out the revenues it has raised for the industry.

1989 quickly became the fastest-selling album for 12 years. Denying consumers the option of streaming the tracks, has no doubt helped encourage sales of either the CD or digital version. This was undoubtedly a controversial move, but controlling how her music was released so as to maximise her revenue proved smart business.

Now she has filed trade mark applications in the US for phrases from her lyrics. “This Sick Beat”, “Party Like its 1989” and “Nice to Meet You, Where Have You Been?” have all been subject to applications.

Whilst copyright subsists in literary works, it can be difficult to claim copyright protection in a short phrase.

It is common in business to register a brand name or logo as a trade mark. Once registered, this then protects that mark by stopping others from being able to use it in the course of trade for the goods and services covered. By applying for registered trade marks for these phrases, Taylor Swift wants to be able to be able to exploit the commercial value of these phrases. A wide range of goods are covered in these applications from guitar straps to t-shirts; so expect to see merchandising featuring these phrases soon.

Pop stars such as have been down this road before. What is unusual is for a writer to seek to protect phrases from their lyrics in this way.

It is another smart move from an artist who appears to know how to exploit her creative work to maximise commercial gain.