Taylor Swift charges a hefty sum for the licensing of her songs in projects, as Marc Maron knows all too well.
The 61-year-old comedian is a longtime fan of the pop superstar, 35, and has a history with her Midnights song, Bigger Than The Whole Sky, so he wanted to use it in his comedy show.
Maron got what he wanted but he had to pay a cost, which he revealed “came out to $50K [or] around that,” during his appearance at the Vulture’s Good One podcast, on Thursday, July 24.
“I did everything I could to get the joke in front of her,” Maron continued.
Speaking about how he got his request across, he said, “I know Jack Antonoff enough to text him — and he’s the cowriter 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?’”
However, Swift’s longtime collaborator and pal Antonoff advised Maron to “go through the proper channels” to license the 2022 song.
“It was doable. We made enough money,” Maron said. “It was tight, but because of the ticket sales for the [televised version of the] special, we are able to get that song.”
Even though he got to play the bit like he wanted after the Grammy winner’s team “signed off” the request, he is unaware if Swift heard the joke that he really wanted her to hear.
