Marc Maron paid 50k to use one minute of Taylor Swift song

Marc Maron paid $50,000 to use just one minute of a Taylor Swift song in his stand-up special.

The 61-year-old comic felt he needed Bigger Than the Whole Sky – a bonus track on the 3am edition of Taylor’s 2022 album Midnights – for a pivotal moment in his HBO show Marc Maron: Panicked, so he got in touch with mutual friend Jack Antonoff for help in licensing the track, and while his pal was able to offer advice on going through official channels, he couldn’t obtain him a discount on the fee.

Speaking on Vulture’s Good One podcast, Marc said: “I know Jack Antonoff enough to text him — and he’s the co-writer on that song.

“I said, ‘I don’t know what’s proper or how to do this, but we’re running out of money on this thing. It’s probably going to come out of my pocket. Is there anything you can do about this song or talk to Taylor?’

“It was doable.

“I would have gone over the minute, [but] it would have been more money.”

Marc didn’t know if Taylor, 35, has heard the specific joke that her team signed off on letting him use the track for, but he was “manifesting” that she would like it if she had.

He said: “It had to happen. The real fear [was], like, [if] she doesn’t let you use it, and then what do you do? You can’t do the bit on the special.”

Marc previously explained he studied Midnights on a hike while trying to “figure out” why people like Taylor’s music so much.

He said on his own WTF podcast in 2023: “I’m an open-minded guy, and I like music. I [wanted] to try to figure out what it is about Taylor Swift that everyone never shuts up about.”

After listening to the record, he added: “I’m like, ‘Alright. I get it.’ It’s pop music, but it’s not dance music [and] it’s, sort of, emotional. There’s a lot of longing and sadness and isolation and processing these overwhelming feelings of melancholy.”

Marc previously hailed his new special – which premieres on Friday (01.08.25) – as the “best work” he has ever done.

He added in a statement: “Everything came together.

“The direction, the production design, the shirt and the bits. HBO gets me and I’m thrilled to be presented by them.”