Taylor Swift’s “worst case scenario” is finally over: the superstar officially owns her entire music catalogue.
Today (May 30), Swift has revealed that she has completed a deal with Shamrock Capital to acquire the rights to her first six albums.
Swift made the announcement about her "dreams coming true" after "20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away" via social media, you can read her full statement below and on her site. There is a lot to get into.
Crucially, Swift confirms that she now owns "all of the music I've ever made", as well as "all my music videos, all the concert filims, the album art and photographs, the unreleased songs".
For all the triumphs she has enjoyed of late – including the record-breaking Eras tour – this may well mark the sweetest victory of all for Swift.
To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it
Taylor Swift
A brief recap about Swift’s “worst case scenario”: in June 2019 Scooter Braun agreed a deal to acquire Big Machine Label Group from founder Scott Borchetta, reportedly for more than $300m (£236m). Notably, the label had the rights to Swift’s back catalogue of six albums at the time (everything prior to Swift’s No.1 Lover album, which was released by Universal Music’s Republic and Virgin EMI in the UK).
At the time, Swift published an online post reaction to the news with a scathing and heartbroken message that signed off with the farewell: “sad and grossed out”. In it, Swift said “For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. Instead I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in.”
“Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter,” continued Swift. “Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words ‘Scooter Braun’ escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to.”
In July 2019, Borchetta said: “Taylor had every chance in the world to own not just her master recordings, but every video, photograph, everything associated to her career. She chose to leave.”
From there a host of back and forths were issued on both sides before, in 2020, Shamrock Capital spentapproximately $300 million, according to Variety, for the rights to those recordings. And it’s there they remained until today’s seismic news.
On today’s news of Swift acquiring the rights to her first six albums, sources close to contract negotiations said: “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. Taylor now owns all of her music, and this moment finally happened in spite of Scooter Braun, not because of him.”
Details concerning the amount paid were not disclosed, but speaking today, Swift says: "I will forever be grateful to everyone at Shamrock Capital for being the first people to ever offer this to me. The way they've handled every interaction we've 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."
In her 2019 Music Week interview, Swift outlined her hope that artists don’t find themselves in a situation similar to what she had endured in the future.
“That’s the only reason that I speak out about things,” said Swift. “The fans don’t understand these things, the public isn’t being made aware. This generation has so much information available to them so I thought it was important that the fans knew what I was going through, because I knew it was going to affect every aspect of my life and I wanted them to be the first to know. And in and amongst that group, I know there are people that want to make music some day. It involves every new artist that is reading that and going, ‘Wait, that’s what I’m signing?’ They don’t have to sign stuff that’s unfair to them. If you don’t ask the right questions and you sit in front of the wrong desk in front of the wrong person, they can take everything from you.”
While Swift would ultimately have never wanted to go through this debacle, it is worth noting that there is now a sense in which she emerges doubly victorious.
Her response to feeling “sad and grossed out”?
First, upon leaving Big Machine, she brokered a groundbreaking new deal with Universal’s Republic Records, which included clauses not only guaranteeing the star ownership of her future masters, but also ensuring Universal will share the spoils of its Spotify shares with its artists, without any payments counting against unrecouped balances.
Second – and it’s a BIG second – in what is now industry legend, Swift boldly set about re-recording all of her Big Machine Records in their “Taylor’s Version” iterations. So, now not only does she have her old catalogue back, but she has also posted a host of legacy-enhancing No.1s with her Taylor’s Versions (while also treating Swifties to a host of unreleased tracks and rarities, including the fabled 10-minute version of All Too Well).
Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this fight, I'm reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen
Taylor Swift
In the UK, Taylor Swift’s 1989 (TV) stands on sales of 593,456 according to Official Charts Company data, Speak Now (TV) 298,493, Fearless (TV) 289,646, Red (TV) 467,373.
Two expected Taylor’s Versions remain to be released: her 2006 self-titled debut and 2017’s Reputation, but no official date for either is set.
Interestingly, in the letter, Swift confirms she hasn't "even re-recorded a guitar part" of Reputation yet. "To be perfectly honest," she continued, "it is the one album in those first six that I thought couldn't be improved upon by redoing it... There will be a time (if you're into the idea) for the unreleased Vault tracks from that album to hatch."
Swift has, however, "re-recorded my entire debut" and suggets both "can still have their moment to re-emerge when the time is right."
The moral of the story? Six years ago, Swift laid it bare.
“Hopefully, young artists or kids with musical dreams will read this and learn about how to better protect themselves in a negotiation," she said. "You deserve to own the art you make.”
Today, Swift says: "I'm extremely heartened by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry among artists and fans. Every time a new artists tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this fight, I'm 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'll never know how much it means to me that you cared. Every single bit of it counted and ended up here."
Where she once signed off as "sad and grossed out", today the farewell is different.
"Elated and amazed, Taylor."
Photo Credit: TAS Rights Management
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