Pop star Taylor Swift reportedly shelled out around $360 million to finally own the rights to her first six albums again.
Back in 2019, music manager Scooter Braun acquired Big Machine Records, Swift’s former label. The deal included ownership of the masters to her first six albums, which include Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, and Reputation.
To get back control of her music, the U.S. pop star started re-recording her old albums and putting them out as “Taylor’s Version,” so she could reclaim her music and the associated revenues. In 2020, Braun sold the masters to private equity firm Shamrock Capital for $405 million.
Despite the sale, Braun maintained involvement in the rights, which Swift declined to accept.
She rejected a partnership offer from Shamrock, insisting on complete ownership without ties to Braun. On Friday, the Shake It Off hitmaker announced via her official website that she had purchased her masters back from Shamrock Capital.
She said: “I’m trying to gather my thoughts into something coherent, but right now my mind is just a slideshow… 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 of having the carrot 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.”
The deal also includes music videos, concert films, album artwork, and unreleased material.
It comes after the star recently revealed that while she has not yet re-recorded her Reputation album, she plans to do so when the timing feels right.
She once shared why re-recording it has taken longer than her other albums, saying back in October 2023: “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.”
