Taylor Swift has officially regained ownership of her first six albums, years after losing control of them in a controversial deal with music executive Scooter Braun.
Swift announced the news in a heartfelt letter to fans on her website Friday, revealing that she has bought back her masters in a deal with Shamrock Capital. “All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me,” she wrote.
The move comes after a six-year public feud that began when Braun’s company, Ithaca Holdings, acquired Big Machine Records in 2019 — and with it, the rights to Swift’s early catalog. Swift said she was not given a fair chance to purchase her work and described the sale as her “worst case scenario.”
In 2020, Braun sold the catalog to Shamrock Capital for a reported $300 million. Now, Swift has struck a deal directly with Shamrock to buy back the rights. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Swift thanked Shamrock in her letter, saying, “To them it was a business deal, but to me it was decades of dreams.”
Since losing her masters, Swift began re-recording her early albums to gain back control. She has released new versions of Fearless, Red, Speak Now, and 1989 — all of which became massive hits. She confirmed that her debut album has also been re-recorded, while Reputation is still in progress.
With this deal, Swift now owns the rights to every album she has ever released, including the ones under her current label, Republic Records.
“This fight changed my life,” Swift wrote. “And thanks to you… the best things that have ever been mine, finally actually are.”
