Music Masters; Thanks, Alexa; Back to School

How Can a Megastar like Taylor Swift Not Own the Recordings to Her Hits? Guest: Erin Jacobson, The Music Industry Lawyer Say what you will about Taylor Swift -she is one of the most powerful women in music. This is the hit single off her album Lover, which just came out last week but is already the biggest-seller of 2019 in the US. But Taylor Swift’s enormous power does not, it turns out, extend to ownership of the songs that made her famous. Swift owns none of the master recordings form her first six albums. Again, Taylor Swift –one of the biggest pop stars in the world does not own the master recordings for any of her hits. They belonged to her former music label, Big Machine Records, which just sold them to talent manager Scooter Braun for $300 million. And Taylor Swift is really not happy about that. Braun is her nemesis apparently? So last week she announced she’s going to rerecord all of her earlier music so she can have a copy that she owns. Which is all so confusing. How can she not own her music? There’s No Need to Thank Your Digital Assistant, for Now Guest: James Gaskin, PhD, Associate Professor of Information Systems, BYU Marriott School of Business We’re awfully bossy with our digital assistants. Every once in a while I catch myself almost saying thanks. It feels a little wrong to just bark orders. Alexa doesn’t seem to mind either way. But there’s been some handwringing of late about how interacting with Alexa and Google and Siri is making us forget our manners.  Back to School Tips for Parents Guest: Denise Pope, Senior Lecturer in Education, Stanford University, Founder of Challenge Success, Co-author of “Overloaded and Underprepared: Strategies for Stronger Schools and Healthy, Successful Kids” A new school year can be a chance at a fresh start for your family. A chance to try some new strategies for managing the homework battles and helping your child cope better with the stress of school.  Baking Your Own Happiness Guests: Michael Platt, Head Baker and Spokesperson for Michaels Desser