Taylor Swift‘S experiment with his old songs is proving to be fruitful from the start – the first numbers are coming up for the first song of the big batch ahead of him, and they are not so bad.
Advertising panel documented the single-day download and radio playback data that arrived since Taylor released “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” on Friday … her initial mega-hit re-recorded on what could be a long line of reissues that she promised to distribute again.
Based on the numbers, everything is fine … especially compared to the OG of the same day (February 12, 2021). Billboard MRC Data reports for February 12 show that Taylor’s new version has been downloaded about 10,000 times, compared to just 200 downloads for the 2008 track.
There is also an element of radio reproduction here that has not yet been fully confirmed – Billboard notes that Taylor’s new ‘Love Story’ (which sounds virtually identical to the old one) has not received a major push from its staff to be played on the radio. .. but a handful of stations across the country released it on Friday – and even those numbers are higher than the same day’s OG statistics.
“Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” had 144 radio plays between 89 stations on Friday, compared to the original … which only had 67 plays on Friday. “Love Story” from 2008 is still king (for now) – as we know, it has shot through the charts over time – so Tay-Tay has a long way to go before her new version approaches. Still, these are very promising early signs of what’s to come.
Remember, Taylor is doing this to keep you Braun Scooter and other executives who came to control her catalog since she left Big Machine Records and established herself at UMG. She was unable to obtain the rights of her masters and decided that she would claim them re-recording all your successes.
Okay, while my new rewrites are NOT done, my friend @VancityReynolds asked me if he could use a snippet of one for a LOLsome commercial that he wrote then … here’s a preview of Love Story! Working hard to bring the music to you soon !! https://t.co/0vBFXxaRXR
– Taylor Swift (@ taylorswift13) December 2, 2020
@ taylorswift13
The catalog is now in the hands of a private equity group – and Scooter has bundled the sale – but TS is still moving forward. She joked the renewed ‘Love Story’ in a Match.com commercial featuring Ryan Reynolds, and there was hardly a noticeable difference … leading many to believe that their other re-recordings will follow suit.
The full broadcast numbers for week 1 of “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” are scheduled to come out next week. We’ll be watching … 👀