Taylor Swift buys back masters of first six albums, teases re-recorded albums
Taylor Swift has acquired the rights to her first six albums, giving her complete ownership to her entire music catalog.
The global superstar took to her website on Friday, announcing the news that she bought back her first six albums.
'I really get to say these words: All of the music I've ever made… now belongs to me. All of 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,' she said.
The master recordings were bought back from Shamrock Capital, the private equity firm that purchased them from investor Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings in 2020.
Shamrock sold Swift's catalog back to her for around $360 million, Billboard reported.
In 2019, Ithaca purchased Big Machine Label Group, which owned the master recordings to Swift's first six albums — her debut album 'Taylor Swift,' 'Fearless,' 'Speak Now,' 'Red,' '1989″ and 'Reputation.'
Since 2021, Swift has re-recorded all six of her first albums, releasing them to fans under her ownership of 'Taylor's Version.' She has released all of her re-recordings except 'Taylor Swift' and 'Reputation.'
In the letter, Swift teased the upcoming releases of the two remaining albums, although they may not come as soon as fans have hoped.
'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,' she said.
She continued telling fans that there will be a time for the unreleased vault tracks from the 'Reputation' album to be released, but did not specify when.
Swift did add that she has fully re-recorded her debut album, loving how it sounds.
'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,' Swift told her fans.
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