Taylor Swift officially owns all of her masters

Last Friday was a significant day to be a Swiftie, as Taylor Swift officially owns all of her masters. At the time she announced it, I was conducting an interview, but I could tell from my Swiftie/spidey senses something was happening, but my “Do Not Disturb” feature did not let me be informed of said thing.

If you’re not familiar with the masters situation, here’s the quick breakdown: In 2019, Scooter Braun’s company, Ithaca Holdings, purchased Big Machine Records, which held all of Swift’s first six albums — Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 and Reputation. In 2018, Swift had announced she was parting ways with Big Machine and joining Republic Records and Universal Music Group. Before she left, Swift tried endlessly to buy her masters from Big Machine, but they refused.

In order to own her music, Swift shared in a 2019 interview that she’d be re-recording her old work. In 2021, she released Fearless (Taylor’s Version), followed by Red (Taylor’s Version) that fall. These projects gave her ownership and also blessed us with vault tracks — songs that didn’t make the original cut. In 2023, she announced Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) during her Eras Tour stop in Nashville (which I was fortunate enough to witness). Later that year, she dropped 1989 (Taylor’s Version), leaving fans waiting on Reputation and her debut album to be re-recorded in 2024. That didn’t happen.

Taylor is the queen of easter eggs. Whether it’s hiding a message in a CD booklet or wearing something symbolic on stage, the gears are always turning — for her and for us. At the Eras Tour, she teased the Reputation re-recording by switching up her bodysuit near the end of the final leg, only to leave fans stunned when she didn’t announce anything at the closing show.

I won’t lie, when I noticed that it was taking her a little bit longer to potentially release the re-recordings of the last two albums, I had a feeling she purchased her masters. Over the past six years, those masters have changed hands a few times, but the condition always included Scooter Braun getting a cut. Taylor declined every offer until this year, when Shamrock Capital gave her full control of her work.

It’s no secret that Taylor Swift has been a huge inspiration in my life. There’s literally a song for everything I’ve been through, and I think she’s an excellent role model. Watching her fight for her hard-earned work was powerful. She had some of the most vicious individuals trying to get her to kiss the ring, but she kept pushing forward and refused to back down.

To this day, I’ll never understand why Scott Borchetta, the owner of Big Machine Records, would betray Taylor like that — especially since she was the artist who put his label on the map. She was the first to take a chance on Big Machine — and look how that turned out!

Taylor’s fight has inspired other artists to seek out record deals that offer ownership. It’s honestly wild how many artists don’t own their masters, despite being the masterminds behind their music.

Over the years, Swift’s received plenty of support from her peers, including Kelly Clarkson, who encouraged her to re-record her old work. I know some people think Taylor scammed her fans by doing the re-recordings and then buying her masters, but I don’t think she ever expected to be able to buy them back under her own terms. That’s just my two cents.

And while we’re here — thank you, Taylor, for the vault tracks. I can’t imagine life without “I Bet You Think About Me” or “Is It Over Now?” Absolute classics.

Swift mentioned in her letter that she didn’t finish re-recording Reputation because she couldn’t perfect it. And me being annoying, I’m kind of happy that the bandwagon fans who used to hate her during that era but jumped on during the Eras Tour won’t get to witness a full-on Reputation moment. Sorry not sorry! You simply had to be there.

I can’t wait to see what Taylor has in store for us next, and I fully believe album 12 is just around the corner. I’m ready for Swiftmania 2.0, but for now, I’ll be streaming her debut album guilt free.