What does it imply and how he achieved it

The American singer Taylor Swift replied the rights of his first six albums, ending a long battle for the property of his music.

“All the music that I have created now belongs to me”the star declared when announcing the news on its official website, along with an extensive letter handwritten in which He reflected and celebrated This milestone in his career as something that had seemed, for a long time, unimaginable.

In the music industry, the owner of a master recording controls how it is distributed and license. The artist continues to receive royalties, but controlling the master recordings offers protection on how the work will be used in the future.

The story began in 2004When a young Taylor Swift, just 14 years old, moved to Nashville with the dream of becoming a star of the Country pop.

It was then that he signed a contract with the seal Big Machinefounded by Scott Borchettawho offered him an advance in cash in exchange for the property of the master recordings of his first six albums “to perpetuity.” At that time, a common practice.

These albums were: Taylor Swift (2006), Fearless (2008), Speak Now (2010), Grid (2012), 1989 (2014) and Reputation (2017). The relationship with Big Machine It remained until 2018when Swift left the label and signed with Republic Recordsof the group Universal Music.

In 2019a year after his departure, Big Machine It was sold to Ithaca Holdingsthe company of the musical representative Scooter Brauntogether with the rights to the master recordings of all the albums published by Swift until then.

Swift said he learned of the agreement at the same time as the public and described the operation as an act of “assault” that “He stripped me of my life”.

Moreover, he described Braun – known for representing artists as Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, Kanye West and Ariana Grande– as “The very definition of toxic male privilege in our industry.”

The situation worsened in November 2020When Braun sold the swift catalog to Shamrock Holdingsan investment fund linked to the family Disney.

“This is the second time they sell my music without my knowledge”Swift had written in networks, where he also revealed that at no time was considered as a potential buyer.

And although he considered associating with Shamrockhe discovered that Braun would continue to profit from the agreement for years, which led her to reject any proposal that involved it.

In response, it was launched with the ambitious project to re -record the six original albums with a single purpose: Recover control.

The series was born like this Taylor’s versionwhich was possible because Swift possessed the rights to the composition of the songs, although not on the original recordings.

From 2021he launched Fearless (Taylor’s version) and Network (Taylor’s version) That same year. Then, Speak Now (Taylor’s version) and 1989 (Taylor’s version) in 2023.

Finally, in May of 2025Swift recovered their rights when buying their master recordings from Shamrock Holdingssix years after her music was sold without her consent.

In his letter, he publicly thanked Shamrock for allowing him to repurchase his master recordings, and declared: “This was a commercial agreement for them, but I felt that they saw what this meant for me: My memories, my sweat, my calligraphy and decades of dreams”

Without a doubt, one of the financial keys to close the operation was his success as an independent artist. Between 2019 and 2024 launched five low albums Republic Records: LOVER, Folklore, Evermore, Midnights and The tortured poets department.

But the most transcendental was the tour The Eras Tourwho reviewed his entire discography. The tour included 149 concerts around the world and raised more than 2,000 million dollarsbecoming the most lucrative tour in history.

“The passionate support they showed towards those albums and the success of The Eras Tour is the reason I could buy my music”Swift thanked his fansbetter known as Swifties.

The purchase price is unknown, but means like Billboard and The New York Times They reported that the figure exceeded 300 million dollarsa sum comparable to that Shamrock would have originally paid.

“All the music that I have created now belongs to me. I have been crying with joy … since I discovered that this is really happening” He wrote in his letter published on the official website.

Also thanked the Swifties from all over the world: “I have no words to thank you for helping me to meet again with this art to which I have dedicated my life, but I had never possessed so far.”

The star also addressed those fans who wonder about the versions rewritten of Taylor Swift (2006) and Reputation (2017), the two albums that do not yet have their own Taylor´s version.

In his recent letter, he revealed that the first has already finished, but that he presented artistic difficulties when re -recording Reputation. “That album was very specific to that moment of my life. He is the only one of the six that I felt that I couldn’t improve.”wrote.

However, he left an open door: “Those two albums can still have their time to resurge celebration“.