Latest news with #re-recording
Khaleej Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Khaleej Times
'Tears of joy': Taylor Swift finally gains control of her entire music catalogue
Pop superstar Taylor Swift said on Friday she had purchased the master recordings of her first six albums, giving her control of all of her music after a dispute with her former record label. Swift's masters had been sold in 2019 and the singer said she was not given the opportunity to buy them at the time. She re-recorded four of the albums with the subtitle "Taylor's Version." Swift purchased the original recordings from current owner Shamrock Capital in what she called her "greatest dream come true." No financial terms were disclosed. "I've been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out this is really happening," she said in a statement on her website. "I really get to say these words: All of the music I've ever made ... now belongs ... to me." The 'Fortnight' singer also said she had re-recorded her 2006 self-titled debut album and parts of 2017 release 'Reputation'. She said she would release them "when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about." Swift has won 14 Grammys, including an unprecedented four trophies for album of the year, and recently completed the highest-grossing concert tour of all time. The 35-year-old singer recorded her first six albums, which included hits such as 'Shake It Off' and 'You Belong With Me', with Big Machine Label Group before leaving in 2018 for Universal Music Group Music executive Scooter Braun bought Big Machine in 2019 and Swift publicly accused him of bullying her and refusing to give her a chance to purchase her original recordings. Swift said in 2020 that BMG had sold her music to Shamrock. Media reports at the time said the deal was worth more than $300 million. Representatives for Braun did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Swift praised executives at Shamrock, founded by Walt Disney's nephew Roy E. Disney, as being "honest, fair and respectful." "My first tattoo might just be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead," she joked.
CNA
3 days ago
- Business
- CNA
Taylor Swift gains control of her music catalogue
Pop superstar Taylor Swift said on Friday (May 30) that she had purchased the master recordings of her first six albums, giving her control of all of her music after a dispute with her former record label. Swift's masters had been sold in 2019 and the singer said she was not given the opportunity to buy them at the time. She re-recorded four of the albums with the subtitle "Taylor's Version". Swift purchased the original recordings from current owner Shamrock Capital in what she called her "greatest dream come true". No financial terms were disclosed. "I've been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out this is really happening," she said in a statement on her website. "I really get to say these words: All of the music I've ever made ... now belongs ... to me." The Fortnight singer also said she had re-recorded her 2006 self-titled debut album and parts of 2017 release Reputation. She said she would release them "when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about". Swift has won 14 Grammys, including an unprecedented four trophies for album of the year, and recently completed the highest-grossing concert tour of all time. The 35-year-old singer recorded her first six albums, which included hits such as Shake It Off and You Belong With Me, with Big Machine Label Group before leaving in 2018 for Universal Music Group. Music executive Scooter Braun bought Big Machine in 2019 and Swift publicly accused him of bullying her and refusing to give her a chance to purchase her original recordings. Swift said in 2020 that BMG had sold her music to Shamrock. Media reports at the time said the deal was worth more than US$300 million. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift)
CBC
3 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Taylor Swift regains control of her music, buying back first 6 albums
Taylor Swift has regained control over her entire body of work. In a lengthy note posted to her official website on Friday, Swift announced: "All of the music I've ever made now belongs to me." "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, addressing her fans in the post. "The best things that have ever been mine... finally actually are." The pop star said she purchased her catalogue of recordings — originally released through Big Machine Records — from their most recent owner, the private equity firm Shamrock Capital. She did not disclose the amount. "We are thrilled with this outcome and are so happy for Taylor," Shamrock Capital said in a statement. 'Taylor's Version' Over the last few years, Swift has been re-recording and releasing her first six albums in an attempt to regain control of her music. The series was instigated by music manager Scooter Braun's purchase and sale of her early catalogue and represents Swift's effort to control her own songs and how they're used. Previous "Taylor's Version" releases have been more than conventional re-recordings, arriving with new "from the vault" music, Easter eggs and visuals that deepen understanding of her work. WATCH | Vancouver businesses felt the effect of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour: Taylor Swift's Eras Tour had a big impact on Vancouver's businesses — both good and bad 6 months ago Duration 1:54 In between re-recordings, she has released new music, including last year's The Tortured Poets Department, announced during the 2024 Grammys and released during her record-breaking tour. So far, there have been four re-recorded albums, beginning with Fearless (Taylor's Version) and Red (Taylor's Version) in 2021. All four have been massive commercial and cultural successes, each one debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Swift's last re-recording, 1989 (Taylor's Version), arrived in October 2023, just four months after the release of Speak Now (Taylor's Version). That was the same year Swift claimed the record for the woman with the most No. 1 albums in history. Fans have theorized that Reputation (Taylor's Version) would be next: On May 19, Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor's Version) aired nearly in full during the opening scene of a Season 6 episode of The Handmaid's Tale. Prior to that, the song was teased in 2023's Prime Video limited-series thriller Wilderness and in Apple TV+'s The Dynasty: New England Patriots in 2024. Also in 2023, she contributed Delicate (Taylor's Version) to Prime Video's The Summer I Turned Pretty. But according to the note shared Friday, Swift says she hasn't "even re-recorded a quarter of it." She did say, however, that she has completely rerecorded her self-titled debut album "and I really love how it sounds now." Swift writes that both her self-titled debut and Reputation (Taylor's Version)"can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right."
BBC News
3 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Taylor Swift buys back the rights to her master recordings
Taylor Swift has bought back the rights to her first six albums, ending a long-running battle over the ownership of her music."All of the music I've ever made now belongs to me," said the star, announcing the news on her official website. "I've been bursting into tears of joy... ever since I found out this is really happening."The saga began in June 2019, when music manager Scooter Braun bought Swift's former record label Big Machine and, with it, all of the songs from Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 and had personal objections to the deal, blaming Braun for complicity in the "incessant, manipulative bullying" against her by Kanye West, one of his clients. She responded by vowing to re-record those records, effectively diminishing the value of those master tapes, and putting ownership back in her date, she has released four re-recorded albums - known as "Taylor's Versions" - with dozens of bonus tracks and supplementary later sold his stake in her back catalogue to Shamrock Holdings, a Los Angeles investment fund founded by the Disney family in 1978, in November 2020. The deal was said to be worth $300 million (£222 million). It is not known how much Swift paid Shamrock to re-acquire the the music industry, the owner of a master controls all rights to exploit the recording. That includes distributing music to streaming services, pressing new physical CDs and vinyl, creating box sets, or licensing songs to movies or video games. The artist still earns royalties from those recordings but controlling the master offers a level of protection over how the work is used in the future. Swift, as the writer or co-writer of her music, always maintained her publishing rights, which meant she was able to veto attempts to license songs like Shake It Off and Love Story to other companies. "I do want my music to live on. I do want it to be in movies. I do want it to be in commercials. But I only want that if I own it," she told Billboard in 2019. How did the sale of Taylor Swift's masters happen? When 14-year-old Taylor Swift moved to Nashville in 2004 to chase her dream of becoming a country pop star, she signed a record deal with Big boss Scott Borchetta gave the unproven singer a big cash advance in exchange for having ownership of the master recordings to her first six albums "in perpetuity".This was fairly common practice in the era before streaming, when artists needed record label backing to get played on the radio, and for the manufacture and distribution of deal with Big Machine expired in 2018, at which point she left and signed with Republic Records and Universal Music Group (UMG).A year later, Borchetta sold his label to Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings. Swift said she only learned about the deal when it was announced; characterising it as an act of aggression that "stripped me of my life's work".She labelled Braun - who rose to prominence as the manager of Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande - as "the definition of toxic male privilege in our industry".She also expressed frustration that she had been unable to make a counter offer for her music."I spent 10 years of my life trying rigorously to purchase my masters outright and was then denied that opportunity," she told Billboard, adding that: "Artists should maybe have the first right of refusal to buy." Was Taylor Swift really banned from playing her hits?What is the Swift vs Braun dispute all aboutTaylor Swift's Red: The stories behind the songsTaylor Swift releases a 'perfect replica' of Fearless Braun later told Variety that the dispute had "gotten out of hand" after he and his family received death he sold the catalogue to Shamrock Holdings in 2020, Swift felt betrayed again."This is the second time my music had been sold without my knowledge," she said in a social media post. While she was "open to the possibility of a partnership with Shamrock", she subsequently learnt that, under the terms of the sale, Braun would "continue to profit off my old music" for years."I simply cannot in good conscience bring myself to be involved in benefiting Scooter Braun's interests," she wrote in a letter to the company, which she posted on X. She began releasing her re-recorded albums in 2021, starting with her breakthrough, coming-of-age album Fearless. Produced with forensic attention to detail, they were often indistinguishable from the originals - albeit with slightly cleaner mixes, and greater separation between the the big attraction was the bonus tracks, including the unabridged, 10-minute version of her break-up ballad All Too Well - described by Variety magazine as the "holy grail" of the star's back song went on to top the US charts, and made number three in the UK - where it is the longest song ever to reach the top far, four "Taylor's Version" albums have been released, with only her 2006 debut album, Taylor Swift, and 2017's Reputation still to receive the deluxe the meantime, the singer continued to release original material, including the Grammy Award-winning albums Folklore and 2023, Forbes magazine reported that Swift had become the first musician to make $1 billion (£740,000) solely from songwriting and performing. Half of her fortune came from music royalties and touring, while the rest came from the increasing value of her music catalogue, including her the old material also inspired Swift's career-spanning Eras tour, which made more than $2 billion (£1.48 billion) in ticket sales across 2023 and 2024.
