Taylor Swift Buys Back the Rights to Her Masters — And Gives Update for Taylor’s Versions for Remaining Two Albums

Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP, File

It’s been a long time coming, but Taylor Swift now owns the rights to the master recordings for all of her first six albums, the music superstar announced on Friday in a letter on her website.

The saga began in 2019 when Swift’s original record label, Big Machine Records, sold her masters to music executive Scooter Braun. Swift called the sale to Braun her “worst case scenario” and publicly denounced what she described as an unfair attempt by Big Machine to control her creative work, saying she was not offered the chance to buy her masters outright, but instead earn back one album at a time by recording new albums for that label.

After switching to a new record label, Republic, Swift’s 2019 album Lover and all subsequent ones were released under a contract that allowed her to retain the rights to her master recordings. She also embarked on re-recording her original albums and re-releasing them as “Taylor’s Version” — a move that raked in millions of dollars in album sales and let her dominate the charts for months on end in recent years.

In 2020, Braun sold Swift’s masters to Shamrock Capital, and the private equity firm has now re-sold them back to Swift, as well as the rights to her videos, concert films, album art, photography, and unreleased songs.

Swift announced the happy news on her social media accounts with the caption “You belong with me” — the title of one of her many hit songs — along with heart emojis representing the colors associated with each of her first six albums and a note to read the letter on her website.

In the letter, posted on Swift’s homepage in her own handwriting, she wrote that she was “[e]lated and amazed” to be able to own her “entire life’s work again.” She expressed how she was “forever grateful” to Shamrock Capital for selling her work back to her without strings attached — even joking “[m]y first tattoo might just be a shamrock in the middle of my forehead.”

Swift has only two original albums she has not yet re-released, her very first eponymous album, referred to as “Debut,” and 2017’s Reputation.

“I’ve already completely re-recorded my entire debut album, and I really love how it sounds now,” she wrote, but added that she “hadn’t even re-recorded a quarter” of Reputation, because she “kept hitting a stopping point” as it “was so specific to that time in my life.”

“All that defiance, that longing to be understood while feeling purposely misunderstood, that desperate hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief,” she continued. “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 photos, or videos. So I kept putting it off.”

She added that she would be releasing the unreleased vault tracks from Reputation and the re-recording of Debut “if that would be something” her fans “would be excited about” — perhaps the understatement of the century for Swifties, who have been endlessly speculating about these two albums and would undoubtedly make them bestsellers once released, just like the previous Taylor’s Versions for Fearless, Red, Speak Now, and 1989.

Swift concluded by thank her fans for their support, writing, “Thanks to you and your goodwill, teamwork, and encouragement, the best things that have ever been mine… finally actually are.”

The full text of Swift’s letter:

Hi.
I’m trying to gather my thoughts into something coherent, but right now my mind is just a flashback sequence of all the times I daydreamed about, wished for, and pined away to get this news. All the times I was thiiiiiiiiiiis close, reaching out for it, only for it to fall through. I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years having dangled and 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.

To say my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it. To know how important this has been to my fans, you, 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 one day 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 handwriting and decades of dreams. I am endlessly thankful. My first tattoo might just be a shamrock in the middle of my forehead.

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 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.

I’m extremely heartened by the conversations this saga has reignited within the industry among artists and fans. Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their 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

—