The dispute over Taylor Swift’s masters, which were first sold in 2019 without her knowledge, has come to a close.
In a new agreement with Shamrock Capital, Taylor Swift has formally bought the rights to her first six albums.
What
Six years after it was sold to Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings, Taylor Swift is been reunited with her original catalog.
The singer’s website featured a handwritten message announcing the news.
The conflict over her masters, which were first sold in 2019 without her knowledge, has come to an end. The new deal’s financial information has not been made public.
“Hello. My head is currently a slideshow, but I’m working to organize my ideas into something logical. This is a flashback of all the times I yearned for, dreamed about, and pined for the opportunity to share this news with you. Every time I came this near, I reached for it, and it fell through. After 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then snatched away, I nearly lost hope that it would ever happen. However, that’s all behind us now,” Swift wrote.
Since learning that this is actually happening, I’ve been crying uncontrollably at various times. She went on, “I truly get to say these things: All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me.”
One of the music industry’s hot spots was the initial sale of Taylor Swift’s master recordings to Braun’s Ithaca Holdings. After years of trying to buy back her work, the singer, who was contracted to Big Machine Records, claimed she was not given a fair chance.
Rather, she received an offer to “earn” each record back with each new one she produced.
I became aware of Scooter Braun’s acquisition of my masters when it was made public. She stated in 2019 that “all I could think about was the constant, deceptive bullying I’ve endured at his hands for years.”
“Scooter has taken away my life’s work, which I didn’t have the chance to purchase,” she continued. In essence, the person who attempted to destroy my artistic legacy is ready to take it over.”
Later, in 2020, Braun reportedly paid $300 million to Shamrock Capital for Swift’s catalog. Swift complimented Shamrock in her letter for handling the transaction with tact and empathy.
“This was a business deal to them, but I really felt like they saw it for what was to me: my memories and my sweat and my handwriting and my decades of dreams,” she stated in her letter.
Following the first sale, Braun became CEO of Hybe America after selling his business, Ithaca, to Hybe, the South Korean corporation that created BTS. Since then, he has withdrawn from managing artists. On Friday, Braun said to The Hollywood Reporter that he was “happy for her.”
In an effort to take back control of her music, Swift started re-recording her previous albums in 2019. She has so far put out re-recorded versions of 1989, Speak Now, Red, and Fearless. Her self-titled debut from 2006 and Reputation from 2017 are the only two albums she has left.
Beginning with her 2019 album Lover, which was distributed by Republic Records, a division of Universal Music Group, Swift has been the owner of the master recordings.
In A Nutshell
Six years after her first six albums were sold to Scooter Braun without her permission, Taylor Swift has reclaimed ownership of them in a new agreement with Shamrock Capital. She thanked Shamrock and fans in a touching message, describing it as a full circle moment in her struggle for artists’ rights.
