2000–05: Musical beginnings
At age 11, Swift made her first trip to Nashville, hoping to obtain a record deal by distributing a demo tape of her singing with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every label in town,[30] but was rejected.[31] After Swift returned to Pennsylvania, she was asked to sing at the U.S. Open tennis tournament, where her rendition of the national anthem received much attention.[32]When Swift was 15, she rejected RCA Records because the company wanted to keep her on an artist development deal.[33] After performing at Nashville's songwriters' venue, The Bluebird Café, she caught the attention of Scott Borchetta,[34] who signed her to his newly formed record label, Big Machine Records. At age 14, she became the youngest staff songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house.[35]
