<p id=”par-1_58″>Taylor Swift <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/taylor-swift-thought-getting-record-deal-easy-huge-disappointment-nashville.html/”>scored a record deal</a> when she was <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/how-old-was-taylor-swift-when-she-signed-her-first-record-deal.html/”>still a teenager</a>. This was a huge accomplishment, and not just because she was so young. Despite this, she decided to walk away from the deal after just a year. She shared why she felt that this was the right move for her career, even in its earliest stages.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-taylor-swift-walked-away-from-a-record-deal-in-the-earliest-days-of-her-career”>Taylor Swift walked away from a record deal in the earliest days of her career</h2>
<p id=”par-2_11″>When Swift was 13, she landed a development deal with RCA.</p>
<p id=”par-3_39″>“A development deal is where they’re giving you recording time and money to record, but not promising that they’ll put an album out,” she told <a href=”https://ew.com/article/2007/07/25/getting-know-taylor-swift/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Entertainment Weekly</a> in 2007. “And they can kind of shelve you, in some circumstances.”</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio” id=”emb-1″><div class=”wp-block-embed__wrapper”>
<iframe title=”Taylor Swift: The Life of a Schoolgirl (2004 lost footage)” width=”925″ height=”520″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/ehxQ1Tfg3Ds?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>
<p id=”par-4_31″>Swift said she had this deal for a year before deciding that it would be better for her career to move on. She knew this wouldn’t be a traditionally recommended move.</p>
<p id=”par-5_62″>“After a year of development, we just decided that we wanted to look around, so we walked,” she said. “And it’s not a really popular thing to do in Nashville, to walk away from a major record deal. But that’s what I did, because I wanted to find some place that would really put a lot of time and care into this.”</p>
<p id=”par-6_16″>She moved on to another label, and she felt it was a good fit for her.</p>
<p id=”par-7_32″>“It ended up being a record label that wasn’t even in existence yet: <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/taylor-swift-dad-bought-300000-stake-big-machine-records-while-recorded-1st-album.html/”>Big Machine Records</a> happened, and then got major-label distribution with Universal, and things have gone pretty well since then.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-taylor-swift-said-the-record-label-wouldn-t-let-her-record-her-own-music”>Taylor Swift said the record label wouldn’t let her record her own music</h2>
<p id=”par-8_39″>Swift said that a major part of why she wanted to leave her development deal behind was because she wanted to be <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/taylor-swift-shared-hoped-people-remember-career-over.html/”>taken seriously as a songwriter</a>. She said that her label wanted her to cover other people’s music.</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio” id=”emb-2″><div class=”wp-block-embed__wrapper”>
<iframe title=”Miss Americana | Taylor Swift Writes “The Man” | Netflix” width=”925″ height=”520″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/egUgRt5t0gk?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>
<div class=”related-article related-article–simple”>
<span class=”related-article-flag”>Related</span>
<p class=”related-article__title”>
<a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/travis-kelce-subtly-reveals-feels-2nd-taylor-swifts-fame.html/”>
Travis Kelce Subtly Reveals How He Feels Being 2nd to Taylor Swift’s Fame </a>
</p>
</div>
<p id=”par-9_59″>“Actually, I’ve been writing since I was 12, so I had so many songs I wanted people to hear,” she said. “It was a combination of things, why I left, [but mostly] just because I did not want to be on a record label that wanted me to cut other people’s stuff. That wasn’t where I wanted to be.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-she-shared-how-she-sought-out-record-deals”>She shared how she sought out record deals</h2>
<p id=”par-10_14″>Swift sought out record deals by going to Nashville and <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/taylor-swift-pitched-herself-record-labels-before-fame.html/”>pitching herself to them</a>.</p>
<p id=”par-11_58″>“My mom and my little brother all went to Nashville and — drove up and down Music Row,” she told <a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna31032270″ rel=”noreferrer noopener”>NBC News</a>. “My mom would stop in front of a record label. And I’d run in and hand them my CD, to the receptionist. And I’d be like, hi. I’m Taylor. I want a record deal. Call me.”</p>
<p id=”par-12_33″>She said that she didn’t hear back from many people. Eventually, she got some encouragement from a label, and she said it inspired her to learn to play guitar and start writing songs.</p>