Taylor Swift's Taylor's Versions: Other artists who have previously rerecorded their music

Music icon Taylor Swift has her fans' excitement at a fever pitch once again as she has announced the release date for '1989' (Taylor's Version)

In 2021, Taylor Swift began to release for a second time music she had re-recorded. It all began with her version of 'Fearless'.

Swifties were left buzzing after Taylor took to Instagram to announce the new version of 1989 would be released on October 27th.

'1989' was originally released in 2014, so why is Taylor releasing the same music again? And which other artists have done the same?

Taylor Swift

Not including '1989', Taylor Swift has recorded threother albums - Fearless, Red and Speak Now.

Taylor's re-releases stem from a dispute she had over the master copies of her first six studio albums. Masters are the recording of music from which all future copies are made and represent a hugely valuable part of the music business.

Taylor Swift ended her time with Big Machine Records (BMR) - who she had been signed to before reaching fame - in 2018 before signing to Republic Records.

Justin Bieber's former manager Scooter Braun brought BMR in 2019 which led to Taylor's masters changing hands when she wished to own them herself.

And that's exactly what she's doing with the 'Taylor's Versions' of songs.

Prince

The music industry's undeniable ronin, Prince is another artist who rerecorded music.

Prince tried to gain ownership of his masters from Warner Bros in the late 1990s, but when the label wouldn't budge he told the Associated Press that he planned to re-record his entire catalogue up to then - 17 albums.

He later signed with Arista Records in 1998. The well-documented fallout with Warners escalated to Prince writing the word Slave on his face and renaming himself after a symbol, becoming known variously as Squiggle, Symbol, and The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (TAKFAP).

Def Leppard

British rock band Def Leppard had a dispute with record label UMG in 2011. The falling out stemmed from accusations of incorrect pay and a lack of creative control for the band.

As a power play, the band decided to re-record their popular hits including 'Pour Some Sugar on Me' and 'Rock of Ages' under new ownership.

They also re-released their fourth album, Hysteria, ahead of their Vegas residency in 2013.

Sex Pistols

Who would have thought that a video game could lead to re-recorded music?

That's exactly what has happened with Guitar Hero.

The Sex Pistols - along with other artists including Public Enemy and Spacehog re-recorded their music so it could be used in the game franchise.

The reasons cited here include that some masters for songs may have been lost. For example, this was the case with the Sex Pistol's 1976 hit 'Anarchy in the UK'.

U2

Earlier this year, U2 announced it would be re-releasing 40 songs from its back catalogue as part of the 'Songs of Surrender' album released in March 2023.

Many of the songs are stripped-down and acoustic versions, but many remain strikingly similar. It served as a companion to Bono's memoir Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story.

The project was described as “a musical reimagining resulting in a completely new recording of each track, to include the arrangements and, in some cases, new lyrics.”