Pop superstar Taylor Swift announced on Friday that she has reclaimed ownership of the rights to her entire back catalog, ending a long-running dispute with record executives that began in 2019.
“All of the music I’ve ever made … now belongs … to me,” Swift wrote on her website in a heartfelt letter to her fans. She described the achievement as “my greatest dream come true,” emphasising how important the fight for ownership has been to her.
To regain control, Swift had previously re-recorded and released four of her first six albums, branding them “Taylor’s Version” to create copies of her songs that she owns outright. Now, she has purchased the masters of those six albums outright from Shamrock Capital, a Los Angeles investment firm, for an undisclosed sum.
This move follows a very public feud with music mogul Scooter Braun, her former manager whose company acquired Swift’s former label and the master rights to her early work. Braun later sold those rights to the private equity firm.
Reflecting on the struggle, Swift stated in 2019, “I just feel that artists should own their work.” She has since become a vocal advocate for artists’ rights, pushing for more control over their creations.
Music industry experts note that while legendary artists like Prince, George Michael, Jay-Z, and Kanye West also fought for ownership of their masters, none have gone as far as Swift to re-record entire albums as a way to reclaim their music.
Swift’s record-breaking Eras tour, which ran for nearly two years and earned around $2 billion, likely helped finance her buyback. The tour’s 149 shows worldwide drew millions of fans and often lasted over three hours, with ticket prices sometimes soaring to premium levels.
In her letter, Swift expressed pride in how her fight has inspired other artists, saying, “Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this fight, I’m reminded of how important it was for all this to happen.”