Taylor Swift fans share tips on how to make old ‘Fearless’ album disappear to mark release of ‘Taylor’s Version’

Taylor Swift fans are sharing step-by-step guides on how to make the musician’s 2008 Fearless album “disappear” from Spotify.  

Today (9 April), Swift released Fearless (Taylor’s Version), a remake of her 2008 album of the same name. 

The Folklore artist has been creating new versions of the albums released with her old label Big Machine Records, after a long-running row with the label’s new owner Scooter Braun over the rights to her masters. 

As reported byVariety, in order to support the Grammy Award-winning artist in her efforts to regain ownership and control of her music from Braun, fans have been swapping tricks on how to remove Big Machine’s version of Fearless from Spotify.

The Twitter account @swifferupdates is one of multiple profiles offering advice on how to hide the original record from the music streaming service.

The process outlined by @swifferupdates is as follows: Hiding the song for every track on Fearless (Platinum Edition), Fearless (International Version), Fearless (Big Machine Radio Release Special), Live From Clear Channel Stripped 2008, and then the individual songs “Love Story *Digital Dog Remix”, “Love Story (Pop Mix)”, “You’re Not Sorry (CSI Remix)” and “Today Was a Fairytale” – a song that was never included on Fearless but featured as a bonus track on the new release. 

Other users have suggested a less arduous workaround, imploring fans to create a personal playlist consisting solely of Swift-approved songs that weren’t produced by Braun, a man Swift claimed bullied her for years.

“I just made my own Playlist and added the songs she owns only… and I don’t allow it to play ‘suggested music’ when it completes the playlist – and also by pressing repeat all in the Playlist so it will continuously loop the Playlist,” suggested one user.

In November last year, a re-record clause in Swift’s contract with Big Machine expired, meaning she has since been free to re-perform and re-record every song from her six studio albums released with the label, including 2017’s Reputation.

Read The Independent’s four-star review of the album here.