Taylor Swift Finally Owns The Masters Of Her First Six Albums

It’s official: Taylor Swift has finally reclaimed her music by buying the masters of her first six albums.

Swift has bought the masters from Shamrock Recordings. Big Machine Records originally sold her catalogue of recordings, and Swift acquired them from their most recent owner, Shamrock, for an undisclosed nine-figure sum, Variety reports.

In June 2019, record executive Scooter Braun announced that his Ithaca Holdings acquired Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine Label Group, and the recorded rights to Swift’s first six albums, for approximately $300 million. The move occurred after Swift had departed Big Machine for a deal with Universal.

Less than two months after that move was announced, Swift revealed her plan to re-record her first six albums in an effort to own her music. The Big Machine catalogue, including Swift’s music, was sold to Shamrock in November 2020.

Now, the masters belong to Taylor Swift.

In a letter posted to her website, the American singer-songwriter cited her fans’ enthusiasm for her “Taylor’s Version” project—where she re-recorded her albums Fearless, Speak Now, Red, and 1989 to own their masters—and her gigantic Eras Tour as the reason she was able to purchase the rights to her first six albums.

As a result of buying back her music, Swift doesn’t just own her masters, she also owns her music videos, concert films, album art and photography, unreleased songs, and her “entire life’s work.”

The statement also mentioned her long-awaited Reputation (Taylor’s Version). Swift revealed that she hasn’t re-recorded a quarter of it. She shared that out of her first six albums, she didn’t believe the original album could be improved upon.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel for fans who have been waiting for Reputation (Taylor’s Version) and a re-recording of her self-titled debut.

Swift teased From the Vault tracks for the former and said she’s re-recorded her debut and loves how it sounds. She added that “those two 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.”

You can read the full letter below.

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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 thiiiiiiiis 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.

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 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 four 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 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.

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 the 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 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