Taylor Swift: Rights to her first six albums purchased
It's her "biggest dream come true," Taylor Swift said on her website. American pop star Taylor Swift announced on Friday, May 30, that she has purchased the rights to her first six albums, ending a long-running battle over ownership of her work.
"All the music I've ever made is mine now. All my music videos. All my concert footage. Album art and photos. Unreleased songs. Memory, magic, madness. Every era. My entire life's work," the singer wrote on her website.
The pop princess was at odds with music industry mogul Scooter Braun, who acquired the Big Machine label in 2019 for $300 million, according to press reports, gaining control of the majority of Taylor Swift's hit recordings.
The owner of the "masters," the original recordings used to make vinyl, CDs, and other digital copies, decides how the songs are reproduced or sold. These coveted recordings are a major source of income for the artists who own the rights to them.
This agreement deeply affected Taylor Swift, who felt "stripped" of her work. In an attempt to regain control of her work, the American singer even re-recorded four of her early albums, adding "Taylor's Version" to these tracks.
"All I ever wanted was to have the opportunity to work hard enough to one day be able to buy back the rights to my music, without constraints, without partnership, in complete autonomy," the singer added on her website, without revealing the amount of the transaction.
Taylor Swift has written or co-written most of her music catalog , allowing her to re-record her songs without owning the recordings. As a teenager, she signed with Big Machine in 2005 before leaving the label thirteen years later.
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