'My greatest dream come true': Taylor Swift buys back rights to her first six albums, Entertainment News
Taylor Swift has bought back the rights to her first six albums.
The 35-year-old singer revealed that six years after music manager Scooter Braun bought her former record label Big Machine and all of the songs from Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 and Reputation, she has managed to reacquire them.
She shared in an emotional post on her website Taylorswift.com: "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 thiiiiiiiiiiiiis 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 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."
Taylor went on to add that buying back the rights was her "greatest dream come true" and she praised those at investment firm Shamrock Capital, who bought the masters from Braun in 2020, for offering her the opportunity.
She said: "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 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 to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but have never owned until now.
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"All I've ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to 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."
And, Taylor gave fans an update on the two albums she has yet to release a Taylor's Version of - Reputation' and Taylor Swift.
While she has already re-recorded her debut record, she admitted that she isn't sure if she could ever improve upon Reputation.
She said: "To be perfectly honest, it's the one album in those first 6 that I thought couldn't be improved upon by redoing it. Not the music, or the 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."
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Business Times
2 days ago
- Business Times
Taylor Swift's catalogue win is a masterclass in business
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In late June 2019, over seven months after she departed Big Machine Records for Republic Records/Universal Music Group, Big Machine was sold to music executive Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings. A year and a half later, Braun sold the Big Machine Label Group (including Swift's first six albums) to private equity firm Shamrock Holdings for about US$300 million. In the first instance, Swift was vocal about the difficult terms she faced to acquire her album masters (record one new album for each previous one to be returned); and in the latter, she was not allowed to bid for them. Veteran musicians have made headlines in recent years by selling off the rights to catalogues for reportedly hundreds of millions of dollars. These include Paul Simon's US$250 million songwriting deal; Bob Dylan's payday of more than US$300 million for his songwriting, plus a separate estimated US$150 million to US$200 million for his masters; and Bruce Springsteen's US$550 million for his songs and masters. Then there's Queen, who set a record for their US$1.2 billion songs and masters acquisition by Sony. Cashing in early For various reasons, younger hitmakers such as Future, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry have also sold personal stakes in their publishing and masters for tens and hundreds of millions of dollars, cashing in early. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up The main difference between those musicians and Swift is that they benefited from the sales of their master recordings – for some, 50 or 60 years' worth – whereas Swift got nothing from the robust sale of hers. Moving forward, the 35-year-old will profit well. This is very rare at her age for a few reasons. For one, despite the 1976 Copyright Revision Act, which allows artistes to apply to obtain their master recordings 35 years after their commercial release – starting with music released in 1978 – major record labels are reluctant to relinquish valuable music assets. They will try to wrangle better deals with artistes to keep a hold of coveted catalogue titles, even though musicians would do better owning them outright. One of the most tumultuous public battles involved the late Prince, who fought for years to get his masters back – only to secure them in his mid-50s, two years before his death. Then there's the fact that many artistes, whether just inexperienced or desperate to make it big, sign notoriously inequitable deals. In the 1960s, The Beatles signed a string of them for management, merchandising and even music publishing for the John Lennon/Paul McCartney songs. The latter is a mistake that McCartney spent six decades trying to undo before reaching a settlement with the then-named Sony/ATV (now Sony Music Publishing) in 2017. (George Harrison wisely created his own publishing company, Harrisongs, in 1964, whose catalogue includes the mega hit Here Comes The Sun.) Even when artistes become wise to being fleeced, the music business finds new ways to win. At the dawn of the streaming era, labels initially resisted compensating artistes for digital music, streamers paid out low royalties and the three major labels (Sony, UMG and Warner Music) bought shares in Spotify. Age of streaming Additionally, 360 deals have become more prominent in the age of streaming. These agreements involve the label taking a percentage of album and concert sales, merchandising, sponsorships and other residual income to compensate for decreased revenue from CDs, vinyl and cassettes. 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(A move that cut into Big Machine's profits.) But that doesn't mean that Swift's victory can't serve as an important reminder to upcoming musicians and their handlers: Prioritise negotiating smarter deals from the outset. It's also an encouraging message for long-established artistes without their masters: If you're willing, fight for your songs, especially those languishing in the vaults. The catalogue is still king, which is why these lucrative deals continue to happen. There's one more lesson to draw from the situation. This time it's for the label to learn. Swift's victory may not have easily been possible without the backing of her Swifties, which shows that the cumulative power of fans, when they deeply connect with an artiste, is a huge asset – something some industry insiders hadn't banked on. BLOOMBERG The writer, a New York-based journalist, is the host of the YouTube channel Side Jams and author of Bon Jovi: The Story
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Straits Times
6 days ago
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