Taylor Swift Regains Her Masters, Shares Reputation (Taylor’s Version) Update

Six years ago, music manager Scooter Braun's company Ithaca Holdings bought Big Machine Records, the label that released Taylor Swift's first six albums, in a deal worth $300 million. Swift quickly responded, writing that the deal was a "worst case scenario" that left her "sad and grossed out." She had wanted the chance to buy back her old master recording, and the deal meant that couldn't happen. As a response, Swift launched her campaign of Taylor's Version re-recordings, and that has proven to be massively successful, further cementing her place as the dominant pop star of our time. Today, Swift announces that she has now acquired the rights to her entire back catalog. She won.

Page Six reported on rumors of this deal last week, and now it has happened. Variety reports that Swift bought the rights from Shamrock Capital, the company that bought them from Ithaca Holdings, for "an undisclosed nine-figure sum." In a handwritten letter on her website, Swift writes, "My first tattoo just might be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead."

In her letter, Swift says that she now owns all of her albums, as well as her videos, artwork, concert films, and unreleased tracks. Along the way, she talks about what's been going on with the Taylor's Version re-recordings of the two albums that she hasn't yet relaunched. She says that she's completed work on re-recording her self-titled 2006 debut, and she says, "I really love how it sounds now." But as for the new version of 2017's Reputation, it doesn't really exist.

There have been rumors of Reputation (Taylor's Version) for a while, and those were recharged when Swift's re-recorded version of "Look What You Made Me Do" soundtracked a scene on a recent episode of The Handmaid's Tale. In her letter, though, Swift writes that the record "couldn't be improved upon by redoing it," though she will probably come out with the unreleased Vault tracks from that time period. Here's what she's written:

Hi.

I'm 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 this news. All the times I was thiiiiiis 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's all in the past now. I've been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out that this is really happening. I really get say these words:

All of the music I've ever made... now belongs... to me.

And 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's work.

To 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 -- so much so that I meticulously re-recorded and released 4 of my albums, calling them Taylor's 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'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.

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. 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 decades of dreams. I am endlessly thankful. My first tattoo might just be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead.

I know, I know. What about Rep TV? Full transparency: I haven't even re-recorded a quarter of it. The Reputation album 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's the one album in those first 6 that I thought couldn't 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're into the idea) for the unreleased Vault tracks from that album to hatch. I've 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't be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have. It will just be a celebration now.

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.

Thanks to you and your goodwill, teamwork, and encouragement, the best things that have ever been mine... finally actually are.

Elated and amazed,

Taylor