The (Taylor’s Version) era has come to an end, as Taylor Swift has regained ownership of her masters! But first, let’s quickly recap how she lost them in the first place. Swift had a contract with her previous record label, Big Machine Records, stating the ownership of the master recordings of her first six albums. When Swift’s contract ended in 2018, Big Machine Records still had possession of those six albums. She expressed her longing aspiration to one day retain the rights to the master recordings of her music.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to be made that easy for Taylor. In 2019, Scooter Braun’s company, Ithaca Holdings, bought Swift’s former record label. Not only was the record label itself acquired by Braun, but Swift’s masters went along with it. At this point, she had lost any hope of ever being able to own her original music for the first time in her career.
However, this setback didn’t hold Swift down for long, as just two years later, Taylor revealed that in response, she would be rerecording and releasing those six albums as new versions. These albums were known as “Taylor’s Version.” This was done to devalue her original masters and ultimately give Swift the ownership over her music she had been yearning for. Her fans avidly followed her in her efforts to regain control. They did their part by no longer listening to the masters owned by Scooter Braun but instead, only giving recognition to her rerecordings.
As Swift was busy rerecording and releasing her new versions of her original music in an attempt to salvage some control, Braun sold Swift’s masters to Shamrock Capital, which is a private equity firm.
Fast forward to 2025: Taylor released a letter to her website this Friday, revealing she had bought back her masters and now has full ownership of her first six albums. Swift goes on to express her gratitude and excitement for, after 20 years, finally being able to say all her music belongs to her. She also went on to thank all of her fans for supporting her through her rerecordings and “The Eras Tour,” which grossed more than any other tour on record.
Even though Taylor did not get to release the rerecordings of “Reputation” and her self-titled album, “Taylor Swift,” she teased that they will have their moment when the time is right. This excited fans because this means that even though she got what she had been working towards, she’s not done just yet!
