{"id":162718,"date":"2025-05-30T12:14:42","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T16:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2025\/05\/30\/taylor-swift-buys-back-her-masters-from-shamrock-reclaiming-her-first-six-albums\/"},"modified":"2025-05-30T12:14:42","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T16:14:42","slug":"taylor-swift-buys-back-her-masters-from-shamrock-reclaiming-her-first-six-albums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2025\/05\/30\/taylor-swift-buys-back-her-masters-from-shamrock-reclaiming-her-first-six-albums\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Swift Buys Back Her Masters From Shamrock, Reclaiming Her First Six\u00a0Albums"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tTaylor Swift<\/a> announced on Friday (May 30) she has regained ownership of her master recordings from Shamrock Capital, the private equity firm that purchased them from Scooter Braun<\/strong>\u2019s Ithaca Holdings in late 2020. According to sources, Shamrock sold Swift\u2019s catalog back to her for an amount relatively close to what they paid for it \u2014 which sources tell Billboard <\/em>was around $360 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a message on her website<\/a>, Swift says: \u201cAll the times I was this close, reaching out for it, only for it to fall through. I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away. But that\u2019s all in the past now\u2026 I really get to say these words: All of the music I\u2019ve ever made\u2026 now belongs to me. All of my music videos. All the concert films. The album art and photography. The unreleased songs. The memories. The magic. The madness. Every single era. My entire life\u2019s work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn her announcement, Swift expressed gratitude and praised Shamrock for how they handled the deal, noting they understood the deeply personal meaning behind the transaction. \u201cMy memories and my sweat and my handwriting and my decades of dreams,\u201d she writes. \u201cI am endlessly thankful. My first tattoo might just be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tWhat Are Masters and Why Do Taylor Swift & Other Artists Keep Fighting for\u00a0Them?\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tThe saga of Swift\u2019s masters goes back to June 2019, when Ithaca purchased Big Machine Label Group, which owned the master recordings to Swift\u2019s first six albums, for an estimated $300 million. Swift\u2019s catalog was worth at least half of that amount, according to estimates at the time. Over the years, Swift has very publicly declared her\u00a0displeasure with the shuffling around of her masters and, in 2019, began re-recording those Big Machine albums in order to restore control over her songs from a commercial standpoint.<\/p>\n

\n\tHer re-recording journey began with\u00a0Fearless (Taylor\u2019s Version<\/em>)\u00a0in April 2021, followed by\u00a0Red (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em>\u00a0in November 2021. In 2023, she released\u00a0Speak Now (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a01989 (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em>, each topping the Billboard 200 chart. Fans are still anticipating the re-recording of her self-titled debut and her final Big Machine LP, Reputation<\/em>. Since leaving Big Machine<\/a> in November 2018, she\u2019s released five additional albums on Republic Records: Lover<\/em> (2019), Folkore<\/em> (2020), Evermore<\/em> (2020), Midnights <\/em>(2022) and The Tortured Poets Department<\/em> (2024). She also embarked upon and completed her career-defining Eras Tour, which rewrote the rules of what a concert tour could be, and massively boosted streams and sales of her entire catalog, including the re-recordings.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tTaylor Swift\u2019s Masters Sold Again: Why She Refused to Negotiate With Scooter\u00a0Braun\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tSwift was not involved in Shamrock\u2019s 2020 purchase of her music. \u201cThis was the second time my music had been sold without my knowledge,\u201d she said at the time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tShamrock\u2019s 2020 statement about acquiring Swift\u2019s catalog from Ithaca emphasized their admiration for her artistry and the value of her music. They described Swift as a \u201ctranscendent artist\u201d with a \u201ctimeless catalog\u201d and said their investment was driven by belief in the long-term potential of her work. While they had hoped to partner with her directly, they acknowledged and respected her decision not to be involved. Shamrock expressed appreciation for Swift\u2019s professionalism and conveyed interest in collaborating with her in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAlthough terms of the deal were not disclosed, given that sources close to the negotiations say Swift paid a price close to the $360-million price tag Shamrock paid back in 2021, that would imply Shamrock did not make much, if any, profit off the sale of the assets. However, the financial firm with ties to Disney still made a profit of around $100 million in total over the three plus years it owned the records. The six albums and two live albums that Swift recorded when she was signed to Big Machine generated roughly $60 million a year on average globally from 2022 to 2024, according to Billboard\u2019s estimates based on Luminate data. Distribution, marketing and royalty payments to Swift likely consumed about 50% of that revenue, leaving Shamrock with an annual profit of around $30 million a year.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2023, Billboard<\/em> reported<\/a> that the re-recordings of Swift\u2019s albums Fearless (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em> and Red (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em> were vastly out-streaming their originals since the new versions were released, with the new Fearless<\/em> earning three times the equivalent album units as the original, and the new Red<\/em> as much as 10 times the original. <\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tYou Belong With Me: How Taylor Swift Could Still Get Her Masters\u00a0Back\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tAs of May 22 according to Luminate, Speak Now (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em> has racked up 2.3 million equivalent album units to the original\u2019s 8.6 million U.S. units, despite the latter having a more than 12 year head start; Red (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em> has accumulated 5.18 million equivalent album units to the original\u2019s 9.16 million U.S. units, despite the latter having been released nearly 10 years prior to the re-recording; Fearless (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em> has accrued 3.0 million equivalent album units to the original\u2019s 11.7 million U.S. units, the latter having had a 13-year head start; and 1989 (Taylor\u2019s Version) <\/em>has earned 4.87 million equivalent album units to the original\u2019s 14.6 million, with a nine year gap in release dates.<\/p>\n

\n\tOverall, Swift\u2019s catalog has racked up 116.77 million equivalent album units in the United States over the years, according to Luminate, stretching back to her self-titled debut album in 2006. She has sold 54 million albums in the U.S. and generated 70.746 billion streams.<\/p>\n

\n\tRead Taylor\u2019s full message on reclaiming her masters:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHi,<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m trying to gather my thoughts into something coherent, but right now my mind is just a slideshow. A flashback sequence of all the times I daydreamed about, wished for, and pined away for a chance to get to tell you this news. All the times I was thiiiiiiiis close, reaching out for it, only for it to fall through. I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away. But that\u2019s all in the past now. I\u2019ve 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:<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tAll of the music I\u2019ve ever made\u2026 now belongs\u2026 to me.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tAnd all my music videos.
All the concert films.
The album art and photography.
The unreleased songs.
The memories. The magic. The madness.
Every single era.
My entire life\u2019s work.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tTo say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it. To my fans, you know how important this has been to me \u2014 so much so that I meticulously re-recorded and released four of my albums, calling them Taylor\u2019s Version. The passionate support you showed those albums and the success story you turned The Eras Tour into is why I was able to buy back my music. I can\u2019t thank you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but have never owned until now.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tAll I\u2019ve ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to one day purchase my music outright with no strings attached, no partnership, with full autonomy. I will be forever grateful to everyone at Shamrock Capital for being the first people to ever offer this to me. The way they\u2019ve handled every interaction we\u2019ve had has been honest, fair, and respectful. This was a business deal to them, but I really felt like they saw it for what it was to me: My memories and my sweat and my handwriting and my decades of dreams. I am endlessly thankful. My first tattoo might just be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tI know, I know. What about\u00a0Rep TV? Full transparency: I haven\u2019t even re-recorded a quarter of it. The\u00a0Reputation\u00a0album was so specific to that time in my life, and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it. All that defiance, that longing to be understood while feeling purposely misunderstood, that desperate hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief. To be perfectly honest, it\u2019s the one album in the first 6 that I thought couldn\u2019t be improved upon by redoing it. Not the music, or photos, or videos. So I kept putting it off. There will be a time (if you\u2019re into the idea) for the unreleased Vault tracks from that album to hatch. I\u2019ve already completely re-recorded my entire debut album, and I really love how it sounds now. Those 2 albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about. But if it happens, it won\u2019t be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have. It will just be a celebration now.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m extremely heartened by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry among artists and fans. Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this fight, I\u2019m reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen. Thank you for being curious about something that used to be thought of as too industry-centric for broad discussion. You\u2019ll never know how much it means to me that you cared. Every single bit of it counted and ended us up here.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tThanks to you and your goodwill, teamwork and encouragement, the best things that have ever been mine\u2026 finally actually are.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tElated and amazed,<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tTaylor<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tAdditional reporting by Elizabeth Dilts Marshall and Dan Rys.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Aller \u00e0 la source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taylor Swift announced on Friday (May 30) she has regained ownership of her master recordings from Shamrock Capital, the private equity firm that purchased them from Scooter Braun\u2019s Ithaca Holdings in late 2020. According to sources, Shamrock sold Swift\u2019s catalog back to her for an amount relatively close to what they paid for it \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musique","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162718\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}