(CelebrityAccess) — Taylor Swift announced on Friday that she has gained full ownership of all her recordings from Shamrock Holdings, a private investment firm founded by Roy E. Disney, Walt Disney’s nephew.
“All of the music I’ve ever made now belongs to me,” Swift said in an apparently handwritten note posted on her website. “I’ve been bursting into tears of joy ever since I found out this is really happening.”
Swift did not disclose the purchase price of her back catalog from Shamrock, which includes her first six albums. Shamrock acquired the catalog in 2020 for a reported $300 million.
This acquisition marks the end of a saga that began in 2019 when Swift’s former manager, Scooter Braun, acquired her former label, Big Machine Records, in a deal that included the rights to her first six albums: “Taylor Swift,” “Fearless,” “Speak Now,” “Red,” “1989,” and “Reputation.”
At the time, Swift publicly objected to the deal and had a public falling-out with Braun, accusing him of “stripping her of her life’s work.”
“For years I asked and pleaded for a chance to own my work,” Swift said at the time. “Instead, I was given an opportunity to sign back with Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in. I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future.”
Subsequently, Swift attempted to regain control over her back catalog by re-recording and re-releasing her first six albums, starting with “Fearless,” followed by “Red,” “Speak Now,” and “1989.” Her self-titled debut and her sixth album, “Reputation,” were not completed before she re-acquired her masters this week.
In the note shared on Friday, Swift mentioned that her eponymous debut album has been fully re-recorded, but she also noted that progress on the re-release of “Reputation” has halted.
“The ‘Reputation’ album was so specific to that time in my life,” Swift said. “I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it.” She added that a re-release may still happen in the future but did not provide a timeline.
“These two albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, if that’s something you guys are excited about,” she said.
This version ensures accuracy and maintains the flow of information regarding Taylor Swift’s ownership of her music catalog and her ongoing efforts to re-record her earlier albums.
