Breaking news:Following Taylor Swift’s re-recording project, musicians are reclaiming their work: See more .

Pete Murray would prefer it if you didn’t stream one of his biggest hits.

The Australian musician has been in the industry for more than 20 years, and his hit single Better Days is one of his most recognisable songs.

But recently, he announced that he’d prefer fans not to play the original song, because he has a new version available.

In April, Murray announced on social media that he was releasing a new version of Better Days (Pete’s Version), and that he was now an independent artist, rather than signed to a label.

“You might not be aware that I don’t actually own a lot of my older, classic songs,” he wrote.

believe it’s important for all artists to own their own recordings, and so this is the first of a series of ‘Pete’s Versions’ of some of my biggest songs that I’ll be releasing in the coming years.”

Sound familiar? Musicians re-recording and releasing new versions of their work isn’t new.

Taylor Swift’s re-recording project is one of the most well-known examples of this. And many musicians have been emboldened to follow her lead.

“Taylor did it and I was thinking, ‘Wow, that’s how you do it,'” Murray says.

Swift paves the way
In 2019, Swift’s former label, Big Machine Records, announced that the company had been acquired by businessman Scooter Braun’s Ithica Holdings.

This deal sparked years of discourse about the rights of musicians when it comes to owning their work.