Taylor Swift owns her masters now
Taylor Swift TAS Rights Management

Taylor Swift owns her masters now

Taylor Swift's "Taylor's Version" Era is now officially over. In a letter published on her website today, Swift revealed that she now owns the masters to her entire catalog of music, videos, concert films, album art, photography, and unreleased songs. She will no longer release "Taylor's Versions" for her 2006 self-titled album and 2017's Reputation.

In addition, Swift revealed that she had only re-recorded a quarter of Reputation, stating that "it's the one album in those first 6 that [she] thought couldn't be improved upon by redoing it," though, she did hint at the release of Reputation's unreleased "Vault" tracks. She has re-recorded the entirety of Taylor Swift. "Those 2 albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right," Swift promised.

In the letter, Swift thanked Shamrock Capital, an LA-based investment firm founded by Roy E. Disney, who were "the first people to ever offer" the return of her masters. Since 2019, Swift has been in a highly publicized dispute over the ownership of her recording masters. Music manager Scooter Braun purchased her former label Big Machine Records for a reported $300 million from label founder Scott Borchetta. Shamrock Capital acquired the rights to Swift's catalog from Braun in 2020.

Since then, the pop superstar has released re-recordings of Fearless, Speak Now, Red, and 1989, including new album artwork and previously unreleased tracks.

Read the full letter here

Now, Swifties can stream the beloved original versions of her music without any moral qualms.

Andy Steiner

Writer, drummer, and Rush merchandise collector

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