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‘My decades of dreams’: Taylor Swift now owns her entire catalog of music

Taylor Swift performs onstage Amsterdam in 2024.  Photographer: Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images
 
CNN — Taylor Swift is now the proud owner of her entire catalog of music, roughly six years after she protested the sale of her master recordings by her former record label.

Swift announced the news in a letter posted to her website Friday, writing that “all of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me.”

The Grammy-winner specified that she owns all her music videos, concert films, album art and photography, along with unreleased songs. She purchased her music “outright with no strings attached, no partnership, full autonomy,” from Shamrock Capital, a private equity company that had acquired her master recordings.

“To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,” Swift wrote, adding that she was able to “buy back” her music from Shamrock following the success of the Eras Tour.

“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,” Swift wrote.

She also thanked Shamrock Capital “for being the first people” to offer her the opportunity to buy back her music, describing her business dealings with the company as “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,” she wrote.

The sale of the master recordings of Swift’s first six albums to producer Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings in 2019 was contentious, with Swift alleging she was blindsided and not given the opportunity to buy her catalog at the time, while Braun maintained her team was aware of a pending deal in advance. It prompted the singer to take back ownership of her music in her own way by pledging to re-record the albums.

“I am happy for her,” Braun told CNN in a statement on Friday.

CNN has reached out to Shamrock Capital for comment.

What’s next for ‘Taylor’s Version’ of ‘Reputation’ and her debut album

Swift signed with Universal Music Group in 2018 in a deal that included Swift owning her master recordings moving forward.

She went on to release what she called “Taylor’s Version” albums for “Red,” “Speak Now,” “Fearless” and “1989.” With each “Taylor’s Version” album, she’s included a number of previously unreleased songs she coined “from the vault.”

Many so-called Swifties had been anticipating the release of re-recorded versions of 2017’s “Reputation” and her 2006 self-titled debut album “Taylor Swift.” Swift provided an update on the status of those two projects in her announcement Friday, writing that she hasn’t yet finished re-recording “Reputation” but a “Taylor’s Version” of her debut album is complete.

Swift wrote in her letter that maybe one day “those 2 albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right,” only if that’s something her supporters “would be excited about.”

“But if it happens,” she added, “it won’t be from a place of sadness or longing for what I wish I could have. It will just be a celebration now.”

Her four re-recorded albums have been hugely successful. The 2023 release of “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” became her 13th No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart. The “Taylor’s Version” albums for “Red,” “Speak Now” and “Fearless” also all hit No. 1 on the chart at the time of their release.

Part of that success can be attributed to the previously unreleased songs included in each “Taylor’s Version” album. “Is It Over Now?” from “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” for example, spent a week in the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

Swift wrote on Friday that she hasn’t re-recorded “even a quarter ” of “Reputation” because the album “was so specific to that time in my life, and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it.”

 

Taylor Swift performs onstage during the Reputation tour in 2018 in Santa Clara, California.
Taylor Swift performs onstage during the Reputation tour in 2018 in Santa Clara, California.  Kevin Mazur/TAS18/Getty Images
 

She did, however, tease that if her supporters are “into the idea,” she may one day release vault tracks from that album.

Swift’s years-long pursuit in re-recording her first six albums sparked an ongoing conversation within the music industry about artist rights and ownership, something Swift referenced in her letter.

“I am extremely heartened by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry among artists and fans,” she wrote. “Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recording in their record contract because of this fight, I’m reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen.”

Swift ended with a note of gratitude to those who have been “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,” she added. “Thanks to you and your goodwill, teamwork, and encouragement, the best things that have ever been mine… finally actually are.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

Author: Alli Rosenbloom, CNN

Source: CNN:::

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