Taylor Swift has successfully acquired the master recordings of her first six studio albums from investment firm Shamrock Capital.
The deal brings to a close one of the music industry’s most high-profile ownership disputes.
Swift confirmed the news on Friday (May 30) in a handwritten letter to her fans.
The transaction involves the master rights to Swift’s albums Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, and Reputation – recordings that have been at the center of a six-year battle over artist ownership rights.
The deal represents a remarkable full-circle moment for Swift. The masters sale saga started when Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine Label Group (including those six Taylor Swift masters) in 2019.
Ithaca Holdings then sold the master rights to Taylor Swift’s first six studio albums to Shamrock in 2020.
In a statement issued today, Scooter Braun said: “I am happy for her.”
Swift’s response to the sale of her masters was unprecedented in the music industry.
She embarked on an ambitious re-recording project, creating new “Taylor’s Versions” of her classic albums that she would fully own.
Swift has successfully re-recorded four of the six disputed albums: Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version), Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), and 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Only Reputation and her self-titled debut album remain unreleased as re-recordings.
In her letter to fans on Friday, Swift called the deal with Shamrock her “greatest dream come true”.
Added Swift: “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.”
Financial details of the buyback have not been disclosed. Variety reports that it was a “nine-figure sum”.
Page Six suggested earlier this month that the deal could be valued between $600 million and $1 billion.
This would represent a significant increase from the $405 million that Shamrock Capital paid Ithaca Holdings for the masters in November 2020.
Swift was the biggest revenue-generating recording artist globally in 2024 according to IFPI data. Her recent Eras Tour became the highest-grossing concert tour in history.
“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.”
Taylor Swift
In her letter to fans on Friday, Swift said: “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 my decades of dreams. I am endlessly thankful. My first tattoo might just be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead.”
Music Business Worldwide
