Law students are in Exile waiting to register for the Taylor Swift law course.
Starting in the fall semester, a new course offered by the Queen’s Faculty of Law will provide insight into singer-songwriter Taylor Swift’s career and examine her impact on entertainment law.
The seminar class, called “Law (Taylor’s Version),” was created by self-proclaimed “Swiftie” Mohamed Khimji, Queen’s Faculty of Law associate dean (academic policy), and will be taught by him in September.
The class will teach second and third-year law students about different areas of entertainment law including copyright, contracts, trademarks, privacy, and free expression, Khimji explained in an interview with The Journal.
Areas of the law will be taught using examples from Swift’s career, such as the singer’s decision to remove her songs from Spotify in 2014 and re-record her albums after her record label sold the original recordings of her songs without her consent.
Because of Swift, Spotify changed its policy on streaming royalties and recording companies are trying to prevent artist’s from re-recording their songs, changing entertainment law contracts greatly, Khimji explained.
“I went about doing some research on her career and all of her interactions with the legal system—I realized that I could actually do a whole course on [Swift’s career],” Khimji said.
Khimji became interested in Swift’s music after he read a review of her album Folklore and fell down a rabbit hole. After Khimji explained the legal reason Swift decided to re-record her past albums to his colleagues, the course was born.
Never in his Wildest Dreams did he expect the zealous reaction from people within the Queen’s community and beyond. Entertainment lawyers offered to provide Khimji with materials to help him teach the course.
“I think it’s wonderful people are so excited,” said Khimji. “Alumni have reached out to me excited about it. These are people who have graduated and are interested in the course.”
“Taylor Swift is obviously a one-of-a-kind artist and using her work as a lens to explore the implications of the law in different spaces is such a great opportunity,” Emily Dolan, Law ’24, said in a statement to The Journal.
Khimji expects high interest in the course, meaning Swift fans will have to go through the Great War to get a spot in the class and hope there’s a Blank Space available so they can join.
Registration for the course opens in August, a month Swifte’s know All Too Well.
—With files from Sofia Tosello
Tags
entertainment law, Queen's Law, Taylor Swift
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