Taylor Swift buys rights to all her music in end to record label feud
Taylor Swift has announced she has bought the rights to all of her music, ending a years-long and bitter feud over ownership.
The global pop sensation said she has purchased the rights to all of her concert films, music videos, album art and photography, as well as unreleased songs, in an announcement on her website on Friday.
Swift, 35, also confirmed she will release Taylor's Version re-recordings of her self-titled and Reputation albums.
'My greatest dream come true'
In the announcement, the singer said: '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 this 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.'
Swift also thanked her fans for their 'passionate support', which she said is 'why I was able to buy back my music'.
The singer added: '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.'
Swift said the process of gaining ownership of her work was 'honest, fair, and respectful' and said she was 'endlessly thankful' to private equity firm Shamrock Capital, which offered her the deal. In a post on LinkedIn, Shamrock Capital said: 'We are thrilled with this outcome and are so happy for Taylor.' The value of the deal has not been disclosed.
'It will be a celebration'
The singer announced plans to re-record all her songs in 2019 following a dispute with retired talent manager Scooter Braun after he acquired the recordings of her first six studio albums when he bought her former label. Though the masters changed hands again after a deal with Shamrock Capital, Swift continued with a bid to regain ownership of the music by creating new versions of the songs.
She has been re-recording all of her albums, re-releasing them as 'Taylor's Version'. To date, Swift has released new versions of her previous albums Fearless (2008), Red (2012), Speak Now (2010) and 1989 (2014), with Reputation and her self-titled debut yet to be re-released as Taylor's Versions. In the announcement, Swift spoke about plans to release Taylor Swift (Taylor's Version), originally released in 2006, and Reputation (Taylor's Version), which was originally released in 2017.
She added: 'I know, I know. What about (Reputation (Taylor's Version)? 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 those first six 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 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.
'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.'
Braun gained ownership of some of Swift's back catalogue in 2019 when his holding company, Ithaca Holdings, acquired her former label, Big Machine Label Group. Swift signed with Big Machine, founded by former Universal executive Scott Borchetta, in 2005 and moved to Universal Music Group in November 2018 in a deal ensuring she maintained the rights to her work. When Braun acquired her masters, Swift said she was 'sad' and 'grossed out' and accused the 43-year-old of being behind 'incessant, manipulative bullying'. Braun sold the recordings to Shamrock Capital in 2020, and reports in the United States suggested the deal was worth more than $300 million (about £222 million).
Swift said before negotiations could start, Braun's team wanted her to sign an 'ironclad NDA stating I would never say another word' about him 'unless it was positive'.
At the time, she said: 'So I would have to sign a document that would silence me forever before I could even have a chance to bid on my own work.
'My legal team said that this is absolutely not normal, and they've never seen an NDA like this presented unless it was to silence an assault accuser by paying them off.'
She confirmed she had begun the process of re-recording her old music, in a bid to gain control, saying 'it has already proven to be both exciting and creatively fulfilling'.
A master recording is the original recording of a song, and whoever owns it earns revenue through avenues including streaming and use in TV, film and adverts.
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