Kate Ceberano can finally stream her 1989 hit debut album Brave after decades-long mystery
Kate Ceberano has won a fight to reissue her debut album on streaming services and now she hopes to give her precious songs a 2021 makeover.
Music
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Kate Ceberano is celebrating a victory for artists’ rights, with her 1989 smash hit debut album Brave now available on streaming services after she made a social media threat to “do the Taylor Swift” and re-record her songs.
For more than a decade, Ceberano has tried to unravel the music industry legal labyrinth to uncover which label owned the master rights to the triple-platinum hit record, so she could reissue it on streaming services and vinyl to meet fan demand.
Brave was the biggest selling record of her solo career and generated the top 40 hits Bedroom Eyes, Love Dimension, Brave/Young Boys Are My Weakness and That’s What I Call Love.
“I should have proof of my existence, of my value, and be like every other artist who is available anywhere in the world,” she said.
“A lot of people asked why they couldn’t get it; I’ve lived out five decades as an artist but I didn’t have this proof of my existence, my debut album on streaming, and I came to the realisation that maybe I’m just not important enough or current enough.
“So I decided to put it out to the people’s court (on social media).”
Her original label, indie imprint Regular Records, had changed hands a couple of times over the past 20 years.
Not only was it unclear who owned the master rights to Brave but Ceberano had also been advised some of the holdup was due to it being considered “unrecouped”, which means it hadn’t earned enough to cover the original costs of recording it.
Album budgets were over-the-top in the 80s, often running to hundreds of thousands of dollars in studio time.
But Brave sold more than 210,000 copies – classed as triple platinum in Australia – when it was first released, and CDs were retailing for about $30.
Her fans, including fellow artist Katie Noonan, questioned on Ceberano’s post how she could be held to a 32-year-old outstanding debt when she had generated album sales worth millions.
Just days after her social media post, Brave popped up on Spotify and Apple, with Warner Music Australia CEO and Ceberano fanboy Dan Rosen cutting through the red tape, to deliver a surprise gift for Ceberano’s 55th birthday this week.
“Warner Music Australia has been a proud custodian of Kate’s career and we are thrilled to now be able to bring this classic album into the streaming age. Happy Birthday Kate!” Rosen said.
With the rights to Brave now reverting back to the artist, Ceberano hopes to forge ahead with collaborations to give her precious songs a 2021 makeover.
She said many of her loyal fans, including DJs and electronic producers, were keen to remix her early works for a new audience.
And that could include “doing a Taylor” and re-recording Brave.
Fans were loving the reggae remake of Bedroom Eyes she performed at the recent Oaks Day at Flemington Racecourse, her first post-lockdown gig with her band in two years.
“I think what I’d like to do to honour these fans and these champions of mine is do a bit of a Taylor (Swift) and re-record it, bring it into this decade and make it truthful for me now so I can go out and tour it again,” she said.
As Swift broke more streaming records with her Red (Taylor’s Version) over the weekend, a Wall Street Journal report revealed the label releasing it, Universal Music, was adjusting its record deals to effectively double the amount of time it retained control, which would restrict other artists from following her example.
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