Taylor Swift owns her masters - Finally!!
Taylor Swift announced on May 30th that she finally owns all her masters. It’s a major milestone in an industry where artists are often underpaid or outright exploited by record labels. Taylor’s win yes, let’s call it that could have ripple effects across the music world.
So, why is this such a big deal? Why are Swifties flooding the internet with celebratory tweets and fan theories? Is it another case of an overzealous fandom losing their minds? Actually, no it’s not just an overreaction. This is about a long-standing conflict involving Taylor and Scooter Braun.
Let’s rewind a bit.
Taylor signed with Big Machine Records when she was just 14 or 15. As part of the deal, the label owned the masters for her first six albums. When she released her sixth, Reputation, she had the option to re-sign and get her masters back one by one. But that meant staying with Big Machine, run by Scott Borchetta (with her dad on the board, no less). Instead, Taylor signed with Republic Records so she could finally own her future masters outright.
Then came the bombshell: Big Machine sold her masters without offering her the chance to buy them—and worse, sold them to Scooter Braun, someone she accused of bullying her for years.
As usual, the internet split. Fans rallied behind her. Critics accused her of manipulating the narrative (surprise, surprise). She even said in Miss Americana, her Netflix doc, “A man can react, but a woman always overreacts.” Regardless of what went down in the boardroom, the optics mattered—and six years later, Taylor is the biggest pop star on the planet. Streams, albums sold, tickets—she’s leading in every metric. Meanwhile, Scooter Braun’s clients have been jumping ship one after another. (Siri, cue Karma from Midnights.)
And then came the power move.
Kelly Clarkson suggested she re-record her old albums in a tweet, I’m not saying that she was the person to give her the idea, but an outward support from a celebrity helps so Taylor actually did it. She announced she’d be re-recording her first six albums and releasing them as Taylor’s Version—because now, they were hers. Her music. Her lyrics. Her story. I’m guessing even she didn’t expect them to be this successful.
But she’s no fool—she packaged the re-recordings with unreleased “Vault Tracks” to entice even more fans. It worked. Fans showed up. Not only did they buy the new versions—they stopped streaming the old, “stolen” ones.
In a heartfelt letter, Taylor wrote: “All the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me.” She called it her greatest dream come true and thanked her fans for supporting Taylor’s Version albums (Fearless, Red, Speak Now, and 1989), and for making the record-breaking Eras Tour a global phenomenon. Read the whole letter here.
Taylor Swift reportedly paid approximately $360 million to repurchase the master recordings of her first six albums from Shamrock Capital, the firm that acquired them from Scooter Braun in 2020. Reportedly this landmark deal was facilitated without Braun’s involvement, marking a significant milestone in Swift’s journey to reclaim ownership of her music
So what’s next?
Rumor has it she might apply for combined certification of all her albums in the US, which would make her one of the most certified artists ever. There’s even talk she might merge the originals with her Taylor’s Versions. Whatever she does next, we’ll be here streaming.
Oh and her announcement? It sent all her albums—old, Taylor’s Versions, and newer ones—shooting up the charts. Reputation, in particular, had its biggest streaming jump this decade. I guess the Reputation TV clowns can rest now.
Personally, I’ve always been most excited for the Reputation re-record. It might not have won AOTY at the Grammys, but I think it was perfect for that moment in her life. The social media wipe, the snake imagery, the unapologetic vibe—it was all iconic. And apparently, Taylor agrees. She recently said she hadn’t re-recorded it yet because she felt it couldn’t be improved upon. But she did say she’ll release the Reputation vault tracks and her debut album at some point, if fans want it (obviously) and it will be a celebration.
And now the Swiftie brain rot continues.
Because she trained us to see easter eggs in everything. In her announcement letter, fans spotted 12 ‘i’s in the message (Taylor’s fave number is 13, so… why?). The font looks different from The Tortured Poets Department. And there were glitters in the background. Is TS12 going to be a glitter pen album? Are we clowning again? Probably. Please don’t deny it, Taylor. You created this monster. You Trained Us to Overanalyze, So That’s On You.
So what do you think? Is Taylor owning her masters a cultural landmark moment like Swifties claim, or is it just another rich people drama? Let’s talk, comment below. Personally, even if I wasn’t a fan, I’d say: artists especially those who write their own stories deserve to own their work. Whether it’s a billionaire like Taylor or an indie artist just getting started.
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