The US metal band Five Finger Death Punch have revealed that they are the latest artists to ‘do a Taylor Swift’ by re-recording their early work after their masters were sold against their wish.
The band are releasing re-recordings of early hits on two greatest hits albums, starting with Best Of Volume 1 which comes out next month. Their manager, Allen Kovac of 10th Street Entertainment has confirmed that Swift was the inspiration behind the move: “She got them to think a little bit about what their rights were. They want to be able to determine how these songs are promoted, marketed, licensed, visualized.”
The band have long been at loggerheads with their indie label, Prospect Park and its founder Jeff Kwatinetz. According to Kovac, Kwatinetz took 50% of the band’s touring, publishing and merchandising revenues and promised a 50-50 joint venture in which the band “never had ownership and they thought they did.” In a Billboard article about the band’s re-recordings, Kovac describes the deal as “the worst I’ve ever seen.”
In 2017 Kwatinetz sold his half of the joint venture between band and label to an organisation he has not named due to a non-disclosure agreement, but which Kovac identifies as Spirit Music Group. “He never contacted the band to tell them he was selling,” Kovac says. “He didn’t even give them the opportunity to go to the bank, get a down payment and pay him with assets from their side.”
There are two sides to every story and Kwatinetz, for his part, has responded by saying: “Allen’s allegations, as usual, are utterly false. We took a band no one else wanted to sign (and) made them the most-played band at active rock for over a decade. The band made millions and millions of dollars, had nine or 10 gold or platinum records. Allen’s intent was always to try to break the contract so he could put it out on his own label.”
It’s a very similar story to Taylor Swift’s – in 2019 Scooter Braun, Justin Bieber’s manager bought Big Machine Label Group which had released her initial run of albums. Swift tried to buy back the masters from Braun but when that failed, she re-recorded her first four albums, marketing them as ‘Taylor’s Versions’. All were huge international hits, again.
Others who have followed Swift down this path also include Wheatus, Bowling For Soup and John Fogerty, who last month announced he had re-recorded 20 of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s songs after a similar dispute.
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