Taylor Swift buys back music rights of first 6 albums. Read Swift's letter to fans
Taylor Swift buys back music rights of first 6 albums. Read Swift's letter to fans
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VIDEO: Taylor Swift gives Delaware fan a smooch during weekend selfie
Milton's Nicole Viscount found herself in a private suite with Taylor Swift during the Kansas City Chiefs playoff game Sunday.
Taylor Swift bought the rights to her first six albums
The albums Swift purchased include "Taylor Swift," "Fearless," "Speak Now," "Red," "1989" and "Reputation"
The six albums were originally purchased by record producer Scooter Braun in 2019 for $300 million
This is the first time Swift has owned the rights to all of her music
It's a new era for Taylor Swift.
The world-famous pop star announced on May 30 that she bought back the rights to music her catalog after years-long battle with record producer Scooter Braun.
This is the first time Swift has control of her entire music catalog.
Here's Swift's reaction:
Taylor Swift music: 'You belong to me'
Swift made the news official, posting a lengthy letter on her website and photos of her surrounded by her first six albums on Instagram.
Taylor Swift website letter to fans
"I'm trying to gather my thoughts into something coherent, but right now my mind is just a slideshow," Swift wrote. "I flashback sequence of all the times I dreamed about, wished for, and pined away for a chance to get to tell you this news. All the times I was thiiiiiiiiiiiis close, reaching out for it, only for it to fall through. I almost stopped thinking it could 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 this is really happening. I really get to say these words:
"All the music I have ever made ... now belongs... to me."
"And 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. The life's work."
To read Swift's entire letter to fans, click here.
Taylor Swift master: Which Taylor Swift albums did she buy back?
Swift purchased the rights to her first six albums, which include:
"Taylor Swift," 2006
"Fearless," 2008
"Speak Now," 2010
"Red," 2012
"1989," 2014
"Reputation," 2017
Who owned Taylor Swift's music?
Previously, Swift's first six albums were owned by record producer Scooter Braun after he purchased the masters from record label Big Machine for $300 million in 2019.
Swift described the sale to Braun as her 'worst case scenario,' and said she had not been given the opportunity to buy her work outright, the Guardian reported.
Since 2020, Swift has retained the rights to songs from albums "Lover," "Folklore," "Evermore," "Midnights" and "The Tortured Poets Department," which were all released through Republic Records.
How much did Taylor Swift pay for her masters?
She acquired the master rights to her first six albums from Shamrock Holdings, a Los Angeles investment fund which purchased the catalog from Braun's Ithaca Holdings for $300 million in November 2020.
It is unclear how much Swift paid for the catalog.
Taylor Swift net worth 2025
According to Forbes, Swift's total net worth is roughly $1.6 billion with $600 million in royalties and touring, another $600 million attributed to her music catalog and additional $125 million in real estate.
Taylor Swift fever hits Delaware: Tribute shows for Swifties in summer 2025
Taylor Swift credits 'Eras Tour' and fans for purchase
In her letter, Swift thanked her fans — affectionately known as "Swifties" — for helping make her dreams of acquiring all her music come true.
"To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it," Swift wrote. "To my fans, you know how important this has been to me — so much so that I meticulously re-recorded and released 4 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 me reunite me with this art that I have dedicated by life to, but have never owned until now."
'Taylor's Version': No new 'Reputation'?
Before the recent purchase, Swift embarked on a project to rerecord and release her first six albums by branding each 'Taylor's Version" and adding "From the Vault" tracks.
Between 2021 and 2023, Swift rerecorded her albums "Fearless," "Red," "Speak Now" and "1989."
Many fans had speculated the next "Taylor's Version" would have been "Reputation."
Swift commented on the delayed release of "Reputation (Taylor's Version)" and said she hasn't yet rerecorded a quarter of it and "there will be a time for the unreleased vault tracks to hatch."
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Fact Check: Taylor Swift didn't activate 'Eras Tour' wristbands to inform fans about regaining rights to her music
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Taylor Swift Buys Back Masters of 1st 6 Albums 6 Years After Scooter Braun Bought Them
Taylor Swift has officially bought back her masters six years after Scooter Braun bought them. Scooter, 43, bought the master recordings of Taylor's first six albums from Big Machine Label Group in 2019 for $300 million. After Scooter faced backlash for the business deal, he sold the masters to investment firm Shamrock Capital in 2020. Taylor officially bought the masters back from Shamrock Capital in May. 'I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away,' Taylor wrote in a letter to fans on her website about the deal on Friday, May 30. 'But that's all in the past now. All of the music I've ever made … now belongs … to me.' In addition to buying back her masters, Taylor also bought back her videos, concert films, album art and photography and unreleased songs from Shamrock. '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," she continued in the letter. '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.' Taylor had been open about being upset with Scooter for buying the masters and she's opened up several times about the situation over the years. 'Scooter has stripped me of my life's work, that I wasn't given an opportunity to buy,' she wrote about the sale when it was first announced in a Tumblr post. 'Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.' Following the sale, Taylor announced her plans to rerecord her first six albums – Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 and Reputation – so that she could own the rights. She has released all of the rerecordings except for Reputation (Taylor's Version) and Taylor Swift (Taylor's Version) as of time of publication. Prior to the news of the sale, Page Six reported on May 21 that Scooter encouraged the 'Call It What You Want' singer to buy the masters from Shamrock Capital. 'Interestingly enough, one of the individuals who is encouraging this deal to take place is Scooter, who was at the center of the deal the first time around alongside Big Machine,' a source claimed to the outlet about the sale. Scooter has also been open about how the sale has impacted him. He previously opened up about the situation while attending a screening of the Taylor Swift vs. Scooter Braun: Bad Blood docuseries in October 2024. The docuseries looks back at Scooter's acquisition of Taylor's former record label, Big Machine Label Group, and the drama that followed. 'I watched [the documentary] recently. I wasn't going to watch it because I just thought it was going to be, like, another hit piece,' he told the crowd at a screening of the Max and Discovery+ docuseries in Los Angeles, according to event footage posted via YouTube. 'And I pretty much stayed quiet about this kind of stuff. And my dad called me and my mom, and they were like, we just watched it. We think you should watch it. So I did.' He continued, 'Look, it's five years later. I think, everyone, it's time to move on. There were a lot of things that were misrepresented.' Scooter then noted that it's important for people to 'communicate directly with each other' when dealing with conflict. 'I think doing it out on social media and in front of the whole world is not the place,' he said. 'I think when people actually take the time to stand in front of each other have a conversation, they usually find out the monster's not real. And that has not happened.'
