Taylor Swift’s “Been Bursting Into Tears of Joy” Now That She Finally Owns All of Her Masters

Taylor Swift introduced Friday that she now owns the grasp recordings to her first six albums, a contented conclusion to a career-defining feud with retired supervisor Scooter Braun, who bought after which offered the recordings to a non-public fairness corporate in a transfer Swift referred to as “nefarious,” and supplied the impetus for each her (Taylor’s Version) re-recording mission and an advert hoc crash path in copyright regulation.

On Friday, Swift posted an emotional commentary to her website online with the scoop. “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 my music videos. And all the concert films. The album art and photography. The unreleased songs. The memories. The magic. The madness. Every single era. My entire life’s work.”

Swift purchased again the grasp recordings for her first six albums from Shamrock Capital, the non-public fairness company that itself bought them in 2020 from Braun’s Ithaca Holdings for $300 million. The main points of Swift’s new take care of Shamrock have no longer been disclosed.

Representatives for Swift and Shamrock didn’t instantly go back Vanity Fair’s requests for remark.

The transfer is the end result of a feud that may be traced all of the long ago to Kanye West’s notorious utterance of “Imma let you finish” onstage on the 2009 MTV VMAs, chopping a shocked Swift’s acceptance speech off to give an explanation for why a mortified-looking Beyoncé must have got the dignity as an alternative. In the intervening years, Swift’s long-term response to that incident has upended the tune business. See, West was once then controlled via Braun, who has since retired from control but in addition shepherded the careers of Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, and Justin Bieber, amongst others. In 2017, Swift launched Reputation, a sonic heart finger to her haters, Braun integrated. In 2019, Braun bought Big Machine Records, the label that had launched Swift’s first six albums, that means that her enemy’s best friend was once in complete regulate of her again catalogue, and would no longer best earn a living any time Swift herself noticed luck, but in addition that Swift needed to get particular permission from Braun to make use of her songs in lots of instances. Then, in 2020, Braun offered the masters to non-public fairness team Shamrock Capital. Swift mentioned that she was once by no means given a real alternative to shop for them.

When Swift’s contract with Big Machine expired in November 2018, she signed with Republic Records, and in addition hatched a plan with a little lend a hand from Kelly Clarkson: She started, one at a time, re-recording and re-releasing the ones early albums, appending (Taylor’s Version) to each and every observe and album identify to tell apart them from the originals. Beginning in 2021 with the discharge of Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Swift discovered techniques to inspire the brand new variations to take priority on streaming services and products, chopping Braun and the brand new house owners out of the earnings loop and making sure that she would sooner or later cling the rights to no less than some model of her complete catalogue. But the blood, it remained dangerous.

“To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,” Swift wrote within the letter posted Friday. She thanked enthusiasts for popping out in droves right through her record-breaking Eras Tour, which made the billionaire musician even richer.

“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,” she wrote of the excursion and re-releases. “I can’t thank you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but have never owned until now.”

Recent stories quoted nameless assets hinting that Swift can have the risk to strike a take care of Shamrock, however with one large error: They claimed that Braun was once actively encouraging Shamrock to paintings with the musician.

On Friday, an unnamed supply “close to contract negotiations” informed Vanity Fair that that was once no longer true.

“Contrary to a previous false report, there was no outside party who ‘encouraged’ this sale. All rightful credit for this opportunity should go to the partners at Shamrock Capital and Taylor’s Nashville-based management team only,” the supply mentioned. “Taylor now owns all of her music, and this moment finally happened in spite of Scooter Braun, not because of him.”