Taylor Swift’s Brand Universal Media Corporation Brings Great Benefits to Politician Nemesis Marsha Blackburn

Taylor Swift is extremely steadfast on this political point: She hates Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).

That was clear in 2018, when Taylor Swift gave her first political endorsement to Blackburn’s then-rival for the Tennessee Senate seat, Democrat Phil Bredesen. And it’s made even more obvious in the 2020 documentary Miss Americana, where Swift can be seen seething in front of Blackburn.

“If I get vilified by the press for saying, ‘Don’t put a homophobic racist in the office,’ I get even worse press for it. I really don’t care,” Swift told her poster in one scene. “I think standing on stage and doing ‘Happy Pride Month, guys’, and then don’t say this, when someone is literally getting close to their neck.”

But apparently, the megastar’s own record label and publisher, Universal Music Group, felt differently – in fact, UMG’s political action committee didn’t just maximize the allowable contribution to Blackburn; it is out of bounds.

On Sunday, federal regulators announced the UMG PAC, group flags for giving Blackburn more than the legal limit allows in an election.

More than just a clerical error, however, the announcement sheds light on UMG’s longstanding financial support for the Tennessee Republican Party, a conservative Swift has branded a villain. personal political grudges, calling her a “homophobic racist” and “Trump wears a wig.”

“Her voting record in Congress appalled and appalled me,” Swift wrote in an open letter protesting Blackburn’s 2018 Senate bid, hitting the congresswoman who then voted against equal pay for women and reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

“She believes businesses have the right to refuse to serve same-sex couples. She also believes that they should not have the right to marry,” Swift wrote in the letter.

“These are not MY Tennessee values,” she added, approving Blackburn’s rival for her first public political act.

But UMG was on the other side of that fight, displacing Republicans as it had for years. The company then signed Swift just weeks after Blackburn won the election.

Federal file shows that UMG’s PACs have poured money into Blackburn’s campaigns nearly every year since 2005, totaling more than $32,000 in political favors. And so far, Blackburn has raised $9,500 from the UMG PAC to place its 2024 bid, close to hitting a three-year ceiling since the election.

The Federal Election Commission has flagged that UMG’s latest donation has brought the PAC over its donation limit for the 2024 primary election cycle. And while the Blackburn campaign appears to have been reallocate funds To comply with the regulations, PAC has so far failed to do so in its reports.

Blackburn, a Nashville resident who sits on the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Media and Broadband, is proud of one of the most far-right voting record in the Senate. But Blackburn has built a reputation as a champion for the music industry, receiving financial support from advocacy and trade groups such as the Recording Industry Association of America.

Her voice is so valuable to Music City moguls that in 2014 the head of the International Nashville Musicians Association told Tennessee that if the right winger is coveted, by the time the U.S. Representative, leaves Congress, it will strike him like a death in the family.

“I will hang a black wreath in our office and close it for a week,” he said.

However, UMG’s donations stand in sharp contrast to the PACs of two other major record labels – Sony and Warner – both of which were not given to Blackburn last year, according to the FEC. data.

Warner’s PAC has donated only once to Blackburn in recent years, in May 2018; The Sony PAC apparently never funded her, according to an analysis of FEC filings.

Corporate PACs are often sponsored by employees, but executives and lobbyists tend to make a disproportionate amount of those contributions. UMG PAC is no different. And it has attracted significant funding from two executives particularly close to Swift.

At the beginning of 2020 Press Release announces her global publishing deal with UMG — Swift, a strong advocate for LGBTQ and women’s rights — says she’s “proud” to continue working with UMG’s head of Jody publishing Gerson, “the first woman to run a major music publishing company”.

“Jody is an advocate for women’s empowerment and is one of the most successful and respected industry leaders,” Swift said in a statement.

She also praised longtime collaborator Troy Tomlinson, another UMG publishing director, as “a passionate torchlighter for musicians.”

Gerson and Tomlinson, who each gave thousands of dollars to PACs last year, in recurring donations starting January, according to the federal government. data.

Swift, who declined to comment for this article, has made no secret of her disdain for Blackburn. Her decision in 2018 to break her political silence and speak out against the MAGA member seems to have prompted a surge in voter registration and featured prominently in Miss Americana.

However, the documentary doesn’t emphasize that Swift is taking on another major industry player in Blackburn.

The senator reacted with Miss Americana documentary by praise Swift’s “exceptional” musical aptitude, as well as her support for the artist, is an area the two women seem to have in common. Both support the rights of musicians, with Blackburn co-financing major parts of the legislation supported by the artist, consists of Music Modernization Act, in 2018 was unanimously approved by Congress and signed into law by then-President Trump. (Swift’s enemy Kanye West joined the signing show off.)

The bill makes it easier to collect digital royalties and is hailed by musicians, labels and publishers as a big step forward.

Swift has famously fought herself in these battles, leveraging her incredible popularity to directly challenge the kings of the industry. After losing the rights to the “main” recordings of her first six albums — before joining Universal — she embarked on a project to reclaim ownership by re-recording them herself. However, at the same time, UMG was amend its contracts to restrict their artists from profiting in the same way.

But this July, Blackburn seemed hit Swift surprised by “trying to change country music” by making it “wake up”, issuing a silly warning that a “socialist” government would turn 11-time Grammy Award winners become the “first victim”.

“Taylor Swift came after me in my 2018 campaign,” she told Breitbart at the time. “But Taylor Swift would be the first victim of that because when you look at Marxist socialists, they don’t allow women to dress up, sing, on stage or for entertainment. cool [of] music that she will have. “

When asked to comment on the donations, a UMG spokesperson released a statement praising Blackburn’s work on behalf of the industry.

“Senator Blackburn represents an important music community and has a track record of advocating pro-creator issues, including her key leadership role on the Modernization Act music and her duties as Chair of the Caucus of Congress. She has garnered widespread support from across the music community — including from almost every top music PAC. She has received support from the UMG Employee Action Fund since 2005,” the statement read.

However, none of these excuses or should be seen as condoning the derisive comments made by Senator Blackburn last summer about Taylor Swift.

Two months after Blackburn made those remarks, UMG report his $5,000 contribution.