Nearly six years after her entire music catalog was sold to Scooter Braun, Taylor Swift has regained control of her masters.
Swift, 35, posted photos of herself posing with the covers of her first six albums and announced in an Instagram post that she has bought back her music catalog, giving her control of her first six albums. Swift now owns all of her original work.
Swift wrote in a statement posted to her website: “Hi. I’m trying to gather my thoughts into something coherent, but right now my mind is just a slideshow. A flashback sequence of all the times I daydreamed about, wished for, and pined away for a chance to get to tell you this news. All the times I was thiiiiiiiiiiiiis close , reaching out for it, only for it to fall through. I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled then yanked away. But that’s all in the past now. I’ve been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out that this is really happening. I really get to say these words: All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me. And all my music videos. All the concert films. The album art and photography. The unreleased songs. The memories. The magic. The madness. Every single era. My entire life’s work.”
Swift continued, “To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it. To my fans, you know how important this has been to me — so much so that I meticulously re-recorded and released 4 of my albums, calling them Taylor’s Version. The passionate support you showed those albums and the success story you turned The Eras Tour into is why I was able to buy back my music. I can’t thank you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but have never owned until now … All I’ve ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to purchase my music outright with no strings attached, no partnership, with full autonomy. I will be forever grateful to everyone at Shamrock Capital for being the first people to ever offer this to me. The way they’ve handled every interaction we’ve had has been honest, fair, and respectful. This was a business deal to them, but I really felt like they saw it for what it was to me: My memories and my sweat and my handwriting and my decades of dreams. I am endlessly thankful. My first tattoo might just be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead.”
Swift also updated fans on releasing the re-recordings of her debut album ‘Taylor Swift,’ and 2017’s ‘Reputation’: “I know, I know. What about Rep TV? Full transparency: I haven’t even re-recorded a quarter of it. The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life, and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it. All that defiance, that longing to be understood while feeling purposely misunderstood, that desperate hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief. To be perfectly honest, it’s the one album in those first 6 that I thought couldn’t be improved upon by redoing it. Not the music, or the photos, or videos. So I kept putting it off. There will be a time (if you’re into the idea) for the unreleased vault tracks from that album to hatch. I’ve already completely re-recorded my entire debut album, and I really love how it sounds now. Those 2 albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about. But if it happens, it won’t be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have. It will just be a celebration now.”
Swift concluded: “I’m extremely hearted by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry among artists and fans. Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this fight, I’m reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen. Thank you for being curious about something that used to be thought of as too industry-centric for broad discussion. You’ll never know how much it means to me that you cared. Every single bit of it counted, and ended us up here. Thanks to you and your goodwill, teamwork, and encouragement, the best things that have ever been mine … finally actually are. Elated and amazed, Taylor”
In June 2019, Scooter Braun purchased Big Machine Records from Scott Borchetta; Borchetta founded Big Machine in 2005, and Swift was the first star he signed. When Braun’s company, Ithaca Holdings, acquired Big Machine, he received control of all of the albums Swift had made before signing with Universal Music Group in 2018. Then in November 2020, Braun sold Swift’s catalog to Shamrock Capital, a private equity company.
Swift later revealed she would be re-recording her first six albums as a means of giving herself ownership of her masters. Her first re-recorded album, Fearless (Taylor’s Version), came out in April 2021, and she has since released new ‘Taylor’s Versions’ of Red, 1989 and Speak Now. All of the ‘TV” releases have gone to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and has served as inspiration for other stars to fight for control of their masters.
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