What Taylor Swift buying her masters means for her — and the music industry
By now, we know all too well about the power of Taylor Swift.
With her epic Eras Tour alone, the pop superstar went from crashing Ticketmaster to boosting the economy in every city she visited to going around the movie studio system for its theatrical concert film.
But Swift's latest power move may be her biggest one yet: The 'Anti-Hero' singer finally bought back the master recordings of her first six studio albums — from her 2006 self-titled debut to 2017's 'Reputation.'
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4 'All I've ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to one day purchase my music outright,' wrote Taylor Swift in a letter to fans about getting her masters back.
taylorswift/Instagram
In 2019, Scooter Braun gained control of Swift's masters after he acquired her former label, Big Machine Records, which owned the rights. After attempts to buy back her catalog from Braun failed, Swift began re-recording her albums and releasing 'Taylor's Versions' of them, beginning with 'Fearless' and 'Red' in 2021 and then 'Speak Now' and '1989' in 2023.
Then, in 2020, Braun turned around and sold Swift's Big Machine catalog to Shamrock Capital for reportedly over $300 million.
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Five years later, though, Swift's music is now back where it belongs.
'All the music I've ever made … now belongs … to me,' she wrote in a letter to fans on her website. 'Every single era. My entire life's work.'
Now, Swift's first six studio LPs have joined her last five recorded for Republic Records under her ownership.
4 Taylor Swift described buying the masters of her first six studio albums as 'my greatest dream come true.'
taylorswift/Instagram
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'To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,' she continued. '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.'
In an Instagram post proudly displaying her albums, Swift simply wrote, 'You belong with me.'
It's a boss move that few in the music business — or any other entertainment field — could pull off, but Swift has the big bucks to do it, reportedly paying around $360 million, according to Billboard.
4 Taylor Swift hand-wrote a letter to fans on her website about the importance of getting her masters back.
Taylor Swift
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But it's the principle that probably mattered more to Swift than the money. She had already convinced her legions of Swifties to buy and stream the re-recorded versions of her first six albums, effectively devaluing her original masters. In fact, fans were hoping that she would announce the 'Reputation (Taylor's Version)' release at Sunday's American Music Awards.
'Full transparency: I haven't even re-recorded a quarter of it,' she wrote in her letter while revealing that she has already re-recorded all of 2006's 'Taylor Swift.'
Swift had started a movement with other artists such as Demi Lovato, Paramore and 98 Degrees following her lead. She even forced record labels to rework and rethink contracts to put stricter limits on re-recordings.
4 Before making her latest power move, Taylor Swift wrapped her epic Eras Tour last December in Vancouver.
Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
But for Swift, that wasn't enough. At a time when many artists are selling their catalogs for major money — from Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan to Katy Perry and Justin Bieber — ownership meant everything to her. This was personal.
And while it's not something that every act can afford or demand, it certainly makes a strong statement about the fundamental right of being in charge of the music that you create. For Swift, you can't really put a price on it — and she couldn't just shake it off.
As a woman especially, Swift felt bullied by the men in the industry who didn't take her seriously enough and sought to control her. She took a stand against them that, with her enormous influence, greatly impacted and emboldened her largely female fan base.
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As a businesswoman, Swift has always been savvy. And now this will be as much a part of her legacy as becoming the first artist to win four Album of the Year Grammys.
She's in her Ownership Era now.
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