Taylor Swift buys back master recordings
Taylor Swift has bought back the rights to her first six albums, six years after Scooter Braun acquired them.
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.
"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.”
