Did Taylor Swift finally buy back her master recordings?

Taylor Swift is officially the owner of the master recordings of her first six albums.

The global superstar took to social media to announce on Friday, May 30, that she has officially purchased the catalog from Shamrock Capital, six years after Scooter Braun took it over from Scott Borchetta.

As reported by Billboard, the You Belong With Me songstress shared the covers of all six albums on Instagram and redirected fans to a lengthy letter issued on her website. In it, the Grammy-winning artist reflected on how emotional this journey has been for her, before giving fans an update about the purchase.

Taylor Swift also informed fans of what to expect when it comes to her previous two Taylor’s Version re-records, which has been highly-anticipated since she announced that she would be re-doing all her music in an effort to reclaim control over the music Borchetta sold off in 2019, which was Reputation and her 2006’s self-titled debut.

Here's what we know about Taylor Swift finally nabbing the rights back to her own music:

In her letter to fans, Taylor Swift penned:

“I’ve been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out that this is really happening." She went on, “I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away." Taylor Swift added, “But that’s all in the past now. All of the music I’ve ever made … now belongs … to me.”

The Guardian has reported that Swift first lost the rights to her catalog back in 2019, when her record label at the time, Big Machine, sold it all to Scooter Braun. Swift said at the time that the sale to the music executive was the “worst case scenario." From that year on, all albums made, including Lover, were released under Republic, which allowed Swift to retain rights to these master recordings.

In her letter, Taylor Swift also revealed that in addition to finally purchasing back her masters, she now owns the rights to all videos, concert films, album art, photography, and even unreleased tracks. The Guardian has reported that rumors that this transaction set the songstress back between $600m and $1bn are reportedly fabricated.

“All I’ve 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," Taylor Swift penned. “I will be forever 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.”

She went on,

"I’m 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’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 us up here."

Taylor Swift also thanked her fans for allowing her to purchase her music back:

“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 penned in her letter. “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.”

Today has reported that Scooter Braun has issued a statement acknowledging the occasion as he expressed joy for the singer.

“I am happy for her,” Braun, 43, told the outlet.

Braun told Variety back in 2021 that he allegedly tried to sell Taylor Swift's masters back to her, "but her team refused."

"I regret and it makes me sad that Taylor had that reaction to the deal. … All of what happened has been very confusing and not based on anything factual. I don’t know what story she was told. I asked for her to sit down with me several times, but she refused. I offered to sell her the catalog back and went under NDA, but her team refused. It all seems very unfortunate. Open communication is important and can lead to understanding. She and I only met briefly three or four times in the past, and all our interactions were really friendly and kind. I find her to be an incredibly talented artist and wish her nothing but the best," he said at the time.

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In her letter, Taylor Swift thanked her fans once again for their "goodwill, teamwork, and encouragement," noting that the "best things that have ever been mine… finally actually are."

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