Taylor Swift buys back her master recordings "All of the music I've ever made now belongs to me," said the star, announcing the news on her official website. "I've been bursting into tears of joy... ever since I found out this is really happening."
The saga began in June 2019, when music manager Scooter Braun bought Swift's former record label Big Machine and, with it, all of the songs from Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 and Reputation.
Swift had personal objections to the deal, blaming Braun for complicity in the "incessant, manipulative bullying" against her by Kanye West, one of his clients.
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00:00Taylor Swift buys back her master recordings.
00:02All of the music I've ever made now belongs to me, said the star, announcing the news on her official website.
00:09I've been bursting into tears of joy ever since I found out this is really happening.
00:14The piece saga began in June 2019, when music manager Scooter Braun bought Swift's former record label Big Machine and,
00:21with it, all of the songs from Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, and Reputation.
00:28Swift had personal objections to the deal, blaming Braun for complicity in the incessant manipulative bullying against her by Kanye West, one of his clients.
00:39On her website, Swift said that reclaiming the rights to her music had, for a long time, seemed unimaginable.
00:47To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it, she added, thanking fans for their support.
00:54As the drama played out,
00:55I 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.
01:03I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen.
01:05After 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away, she wrote.
01:10But that's all in the past now.
01:12In the music industry, the owner of a master recording controls the way it is distributed and licensed.
01:17The artist still earns royalties, but controlling the master's offers protection over how the work
01:23is used in future reputation, Taylor's version, delayed.
01:27Swift responded to the original sale of her master's by vowing to re-record those records,
01:32effectively diminishing the value of those master tapes, and putting ownership back in her hands.
01:37To date, she has released four re-recorded albums, known as Taylor's Versions, with dozens of bonus tracks and supplementary material.
01:47In her letter, the star told fans she had yet to complete the project,
01:51after hitting a stopping point while trying to remake 2017's Reputation album,
01:57which dealt with public scrutiny of her private life and the fallout of her feud with Kanye West.
02:01The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life, she explained.
02:08All that defiance, that longing to be understood while feeling purposefully misunderstood.
02:12To be perfectly honest, it's the one album in those first six that I thought couldn't be improved by redoing it.
02:18So I kept putting it off.
02:21Last week, the star previewed the new version of Reputation's first single,
02:25Look What You Made Me Do, in an episode of The Handmaid's Tale.
02:28But her letter suggested that a full re-recording would be delayed or even scrapped.
02:34However, she promised that vault tracks from the record would be released at a future date,
02:38if fans were into the idea.
02:41She also confirmed that she had re-recorded her self-titled debut, adding,
02:46I really love how it sounds now.
02:48Those two albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, she added.
02:53But if it happens, it won't be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have.
