At least she owns her work. It is her work to profit from.

I don't like billionaires anymore than the next person but Taylor owning her own work is a win for her and the record company tried to do her dirty to begin with.

We choose to give money to her. It’s our collective decision that she deserves this money because we like the music.

This is where any Marxist argumentation falls over a lot of the times because it cannot convincingly explain what happens when you willingly want to reward certain talented person more than the other people

The famous Wilt Chamberlain argument

The music labels have responded by trying to make artists wait much longer before they can try something similar:

It’s significant, Greenstein said, that the first Taylor’s Version wasn’t released until she’d been off Big Machine for three years. Until then, she was legally bound not to re-record any of the material, and this time frame was typical of record deals in the past. But this is the part of the equation that Swift likely changed for good.

“For decades, major labels were somewhat rational when it came to the prohibition of re-recordings,” Greenstein said. “But now they’re going to be asking, ‘What’s the risk of a Taylor’s Version?’”

In response, record companies are now trying to prohibit re-recordings for 20 or 30 years, not just two or three. And this has become a key part of contract negotiations. “Will they get 30 years? Probably not, if the lawyer is competent. But they want to make sure that the artist’s vocal cords are not in good shape by the time they get around to re-recording.”

Making a few billion dollars on a sold out global tour was pretty smart too.

It's also great leverage. Sell me the rights, or I'll destroy the value of your asset.

Or some artists were dropped by their label for no good reason and years later the artist has to pay the label royalties for playing their own songs.

Her popularity could conceivably tank.

Not necessarily. Look at things like America's got talent. You sell your act to get world wide recognition. You can only become valuable by promising that value to a corporation with means to market your talent.

I feel like music is becoming corrupt. A tool to pander, an advert, measured by the ability to reach the largest audience. It's supposed to be about sending a message, but it feels like we're being sold one.

The internet exists and now more than ever people have the tools and resources to create, so it's wild that only big brands have such an iron monopoly on creativity. It's super disappointing.

Are you suggesting cult-like behaviour from cult members?

In 10 different colour variants!