Overview

• Maron secured rights to a one-minute excerpt of “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” for his HBO special Marc Maron: Panicked ahead of its August 1 premiere
• He reached out to Jack Antonoff, the song’s co-writer, who directed him to official licensing channels
• The negotiated fee covers only one minute of the track and Maron would face additional charges for any extra usage
• Maron described the Swift song as essential to his comedy bit and said denial would have derailed the routine
• Taylor Swift’s stringent control over her catalog and recent $360 million master buyback have elevated licensing costs for performers