Taylor Swift Finally he has regained total control of his music. After a long and public battle for the rights of their first Six albumsthe singer confirmed that she bought the original recordings – the calls Masters-, as well as his video clips, concert movies, graphic art and unpublished songs.
“Everything I have done now belongs to me”Swift announced in a letter published on its official website. “I’ve been crying with joy … since I knew this is really happening.”
The acquisition ends a dispute that began in 2019, when the musical manager Scooter Braun He bought the seal Big Machinewhich acquired the rights of the first six Swift albums: Taylor Swift (2006), Fearless (2008), Speak Now (2010), Grid (2012), 1989 (2014) and Reputation (2017).
The agreement closed without the singer being previously informed, something she described as a “nightmare.”
“I spent 10 years of my life trying with all rigor to buy my masters directly, and then That opportunity was denied”, Recalled the artist in an interview with Billboard In 2019. He denounced, he was only offered to “win” an album back for each new album to be delivered to Big Machine, an offer he rejected.
The situation climbed when Braun, whom Swift accused of being involved in “manipulative and incessant intimidation” by Kanye West – one of his clients – sold his participation in the catalog to Shamrock capital in November 2020.
The agreement, according to The Guardianwas valued at approximately 300 million dollars. Swift said he felt betrayed again to discover that Braun would continue to benefit from the catalog for years, which led her to reject any alliance with Shamrock at that time.
It was not until now that that company offered Swift what he had always looked for: a direct sale, without conditions. In his letter, Swift expressed gratitude to the investment firm for his “honest, fair and respectful” treatment.
“I am eternally grateful to everyone in Shamrock Capital for being The first people who offered me this. They saw him for what it was: my memories, my sweat, my lyrics and my decades of dreams, ”he wrote. He even joked with the idea of becoming“ a giant tattoo of a clover in the middle of his forehead ”.
Although the official figures of the agreement are unknown, The Guardian He denied that the sum of between 600 million and 1,000 million dollars, as previously rumored. According to Varietythe artist described the figure as a “fair and reasonable” price.
To reduce the value of the masters in the hands of Braun, Swift undertook in 2021 an ambitious project to re -record its first six albums under the brand Taylor’s version.
Thanks to the fact that she is the main author or co -author of her songs, she always retained the publication rightswhich allowed him to avoid the commercial exploitation of his original recordings and launch new versions with absolute control.
To date, he has published Fearless (Taylor’s version), Network (Taylor’s version), Speak Now (Taylor’s version) and 1989 (Taylor’s version).
These refrabations included clues “From the vault” —The unpublished chances composed at the same time as the original albums, which were received with enthusiasm by their fans.
With the purchase of the Masters, the initial objective of the Re -Registration Project seems to have been achieved. However, there were still two albums pending relaunching: their homonymous debut of 2006 and Reputation 2017.
On that album, Swift admitted that it costs him to conceptualize the re -record and that is why he has not completed “Not a quarter of it.”
“The album Reputation It was so specific to that moment in my life, that I always felt that something stopped me when I tried to rebuild it, ”said the singer in her letter.
“All that rebellion, that desire to be understood as she felt she was misunderstood … to be perfectly honest, ands The only album of those first six that I thought could not be improved by removing it… so I kept postponing it. ”
Without Embago, the singer -songwriter left open the possibility of launching the unpublished songs “from the vault” of that time, if her fans “are interested in the idea.”
Regarding debut album, Swift confirmed that it has completely re -recorded it: “I really love how it sounds now”said.
“Those two albums could still have their time to resurface when it is the right time, if that is something that you would like. But if that happens, they will no longer be thrown from sadness or nostalgia for what I would like to have possessed. Now it will only be a celebration,” he added.
