Artists can devalue hostile-owned masters by rerecording popular versions

Evidence

Swift then made an unprecedented next chess move: She rerecorded her early albums as “Taylor’s Version” soundalikes, effectively devaluing the original masters. Each rerecorded album topped the Billboard charts and became the canonical version within the Swiftie community. Swift’s act of defiance demonstrated how an artist, backed by a devoted fan base, could challenge entrenched industry norms and regain control over their narrative. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 542

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the ‘death of the sellout’ and the book’s broader status-dynamics mechanism — fan power as economic leverage.