Taylor Swift buys back music catalog after years-long industry battle

It's not a love story, but a victory anthem. After years of public battles and re-recordings

Taylor Swift is finally the owner of her original master recordings. Back in 2018, her former label, Big Machine Records, sold her catalog to music executive

Scooter Braun and his company, Ithaca Holdings, when her contract expired. He then sold her

masters to shamrock holdings in 2019 for $300 million. Swift first signed with Big Machine at

just 15 years old under a common type of record deal that leaves artists without ownership of

their work. In exchange for promotion, production, and distribution, the label retained rights to her

master recordings. Owning your masters means controlling how, when, and where your music is

used and collecting most of the profits. Swift never had that control until now and she broke

the news in an Instagram post Friday. That's why albums like 1989 and Red were released with Taylor's

version tagged on She re her early albums to create new masters that she could own But a source tells People Magazine Braun had no involvement in Swift purchasing her masters saying quote Taylor now owns all of her

music and this moment finally happened in spite of Scooter Braun, not because of him. Now, no

official price has been confirmed, but Rolling Stone reports the widely circulated $600 million

dollar figure is inaccurate according to a source. On her website, Swift says

I've been bursting into tears 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

and all of my music videos, all the concert films, the album art and photography, the unreleased

songs. Fans had been hoping for a re-record of Reputation, her final album with Big Machine

In her letter, Swift revealed she had only just begun that process but said it's too tied to a specific moment in her life

And unlike the others, she doesn't feel it can be improved by redoing it

With Straight Arrow News, I'm Kennedy Felton. Download our app or visit san.com for more