Taylor Swift Buys Her Masters, Will Reissue First 6 Albums

Taylor Swift‘s tumultuous saga over the rights and ownership over her original masters is over, as the singer has purchased her music catalog for an undisclosed nine-figure sum, according to her website. Swift stated her intention to reissue her first six albums, while leaving the re-recored versions available as well.

Swift stated in a message to her fans on her website that buying the rights to her music catalog from Shamrock Holdings was a great experience, and the company offered her a fair deal. The nine-figure sum Swift paid for the rights to her music is reportedly around $300 million, though no official number has been reported from either of the involved parties. Swift credits her fans’ support of the re-recorded records and the success of “The Eras Tour” of making it possible.

“To my fans, you know how important this has been to me,” Swift said in her statement. So much so that I meticulously re-recorded and released [four] 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 dedicated my life to, but never owned until now.”

Swift went further in thanking Shamrock Capital for how they handled the process of the sale in her statement:

“This was a business deal to them, but I really feel like they saw what it was for me: My memories and my sweat and my handwriting and my decades of dreams,” Swift said in her statement. “I am endlessly thankful. My first tattoo might just be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead.”

Taylor Swift Buys Music Catalog, Will Reissue First 6 Albums — Source: Taylor Swift’s statement. (Screenshot from taylorswift.com / Taylor Swift)

Swift’s six-year journey to buying the rights to her music began in 2019, Big Machine Records, who initially released her recordings, was purchased by Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings. Swift had just recently left Big Machine after her contract had expired. As part of the Big Machine’s acquisition, the masters to her recordings were sold as well. Swift attempted to buy her masters, but thought the conditions were unfavorable. Big Machine founder and CEO Scott Borchetta claims Swift had the opportunity to own “everything” at the time.

Things escalated ahead of the 2019 American Music Awards, for which Swift was up for their “Artist of the Decade” award, when Swift alleged the label blocked her from performing her songs at the show, and using them in her 2020 documentary, Miss Americana. This led to Swift announcing she would re-record the six albums herself and own the new masters.

RELATED STORY: 30 Artists Who’ve Won the Most ACM Awards

In October of 2020, Braun sold the masters to Shamrock Capital, with the agreement he would still profit, for which Swift expressed disapproval. Swift’s releases of her re-recorded albums was met with much praise, critical and commercial success, prompting “The Eras Tour” and conversations on artists’ rights. Swift’s camp made it clear Braun had no part in the purchase from Shamrock Capital, which was went against an initial report by the New York Post.

“Contrary to a previous false report, there was no outside party who ‘encouraged’ this sale,” a source close to the sale said to Variety. “All rightful credit for this opportunity should go to the partners at Shamrock Capital and [Swift’s] Nashville-based management team only. [Swift] now owns all of her music, and this moment finally happened in spite of [Braun], not because of him.”

To date, Swift has re-record and released Taylor’s Versions of Fearless, Red, Speak Now and 1989. Despite the sale, she is still likely to release re-recordings of Taylor Swift and Reputation, but she claims she’s in no rush on those now.