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Taylor Swift becomes tearful as she speaks about getting her masters back

Taylor Swift recalls emotional journey to getting her masters back 00 00 36 06 Still004

Taylor Swift recalls emotional journey to getting her masters back 00 00 36 06 Still004

Taylor Swift has spoken about the difficult and emotional process of buying back the rights to her back catalogue of master recordings, a deal she announced in May this year.

The pop star appeared on Wednesday night on New Heights, the podcast her boyfriend Travis Kelce co-hosts with his brother Jason, and talked at length about her 12th studio album and the long road to owning her music outright.

“I signed a record deal when I was 15. And I always kind of refer to it as ‘I got my music back this summer,’ but I never owned my music at all,” Swift said.

“Owning your master recordings means that you have complete control and power over distribution, licensing, and essentially the way your legacy is shaped. It's always been a huge thing for me. Since I was a teenager, I've been actively saving up money to buy my music back to own it in the first place, because it’s usually the label that owns it. But I've always wanted this to happen.”

Swift recalled the original sale of her masters to former music mogul Scooter Braun in 2019, saying “it really ripped my heart out of my chest”.

“And I told everybody exactly how that felt for me and what I was going through, and I started basically defiantly re-recording my music because I wanted to own it, and this was the only way I thought it was ever gonna happen.”

Braun’s Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine Records, the label Swift was signed to, which gave him control of Swift’s first six albums. The “Lover” singer claimed at the time she was denied the chance to buy her masters outright and was instead being offered a deal to “earn” them back one album at a time.

Swift announced later the same year she would be working to re-record her early albums as a way to gain ownership of her music. So far, she’s released Fearless (Taylor's Version), Red (Taylor's Version), Speak Now (Taylor's Version), and 1989 (Taylor's Version).

In 2020, Braun sold the masters to private equity film Shamrock Capital for over $300m.

 

Taylor Swift talked in-depth about the long road to owning her music outright on New Heights, the podcast her boyfriend Travis Kelce co-hosts with his brother Jason
Taylor Swift talked in-depth about the long road to owning her music outright on New Heights, the podcast her boyfriend Travis Kelce co-hosts with his brother Jason (New Heights)

After the success of her Eras tour, Swift said she and her team felt that it might be a good time to approach the company, adding that her reasons behind wanting ownership were less about the “returns” and “dividends,” but rather personal.

“I want it because these [are] my handwritten diary entries from my whole life. These are the songs I wrote about every phase of my life. This is my photography, my music videos, most of which I funded. My artwork, everything that I’ve ever done, is in this catalogue.”

She explained that instead of sending “lawyers or management,” Swift sent her mother and brother to discuss terms in Los Angeles.

Visibly tearing up, Swift said: “They sat down with Shamrock Capital, and they told them what this meant for me. They told them the whole story of all the times we’ve tried to buy it, all the times it’s fallen through, all the times we had gotten plans together and figured out something we thought was gonna work, and it didn’t at the last minute.”

Swift revealed it was her mother who ended up telling her Shamrock had agreed to the deal.

“She was like, ‘You got your music,’ and I literally hit the floor,” Swift said. “Bawling my eyes out, just weeping.”

“Every time I think about it, I have to tell the short version to everyone because it is still like, this will affect the rest of my life. I think about this every day now, but instead of it being like an intrusive thought that hurts me, it's... I can't believe this happened. Like, how lucky am I? How grateful am I?” she said.

In May, Swift wrote in a digital note shared to her website that she “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 to say these words.

“All of the music I ever made... now belongs... to me,” she wrote. “My entire life’s work.”

 

The cover of Taylor Swift's 12th album 'The Life of a Showgirl'; Swift said the 12 songs on the forthcoming album were inspired by her experiences during her record-breaking Eras Tour
The cover of Taylor Swift's 12th album 'The Life of a Showgirl'; Swift said the 12 songs on the forthcoming album were inspired by her experiences during her record-breaking Eras Tour (Republic Records)


During the conversation on the podcast, Swift also discussed her relationship with Kelce and her much-anticipated 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, explaining that the 12 songs on the album were inspired by her experiences during her record-breaking Eras Tour. She also revealed that the album would feature a collaboration with fellow pop star Sabrina Carpenter.

“This album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during this tour, which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant,” she said. “It just comes from like the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in in my life. That effervescence has come through on this record, and like, as [Kelce] said... bangers.”

She added that the album will stand alone without bonus tracks, confirming: “There's no other songs coming.”

Author: Shahana Yasmin

Source: The Independent

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