Taylor Swift’s Masters Dispute Comes to an End
Taylor Swift announced that she finally owns all of her masters. This is a big win, but what does this mean?
In a letter she posted on her website on Friday, she announced that she bought back her original recordings, or masters of her first six albums from Shamrock Capital.
How did her masters get in the hands of others? What is the backstory behind this dispute?
In June 2019, a public dispute emerged between Taylor and her former record label, Big Machine Records, its founder Scott Borchetta, and its new owner Scooter Braun over the ownership of the masters of her first six studio albums. The private equity firm (A company that manages and invests capital, primarily in privately held companies) Shamrock Holdings acquired the masters in 2020.
Then, Swift re-recorded and released four of the albums, renamed under “Taylor’s Version” from 2021 to 2023 out of spite and to gain control of her art and music.
In 2018, Taylor signed a record deal with Republic Records after her contract with Big Machine expired. Scooter Braun purchased Big Machine Records for $330 Million in 2019.
With that, Braun became the owner of all of the masters, artworks, music videos, etc. that were copyrighted by Big Machine, which included Taylor Swift’s first six studio albums and their works.
Swift stated she had tried to purchase the masters, but Big Machine had offered horrible conditions, and she knew the label would sell them to someone else but did not expect Braun as the buyer.
She alleged him [Braun] to be an "incessant, manipulative bully". This would be a correct statement in this situation, and she will not be the first nor the last to label Scooter Braun as a bully.
Then, in October of 2020, Braun sold the old masters to Shamrock, Disney family's investment firm, for $405 million under the condition that he would keep profiting from the masters.
Taylor obviously objected, and she declined Shamrock’s offer for an equity partnership.
Swift then re-recorded her albums and released them which had a huge commercial success. Then, The Eras Tour that accompanied those new releases became the highest grossing tour of all time.
With this success, Taylor Swift was able to buy back her masters from Shamrock Holdings.
“I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away. But that’s all in the past now. I’ve been bursting into years 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,” Swift said in the letter she released on her website.
“To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,” she continued.
“All I’ve ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to one day purchase my music outright with no strings attached, no partnership, with full autonomy.”
Overall, this is a big win for not only Swift herself, but also for all artists in general. Taylor is the most visible music artist in the world right now, and for her to publicly push back on the music industry’s awful and unfair business practices is a win for all.
Musicians deserve to fully own their art. No matter how big or small.
Written by Shaughnessy Hoefer