Eye-watering amount Taylor Swift reportedly paid to buy back her masters
Topics: Taylor Swift, Celebrity, Money
Gerrard Kaonga
Featured Image Credit: taylorswift/Instagram
Topics: Taylor Swift, Celebrity, Money
Taylor Swift's recent purchasing of her master recordings cost her a staggering amount, according to a recent report.
Yesterday (May 30), Taylor Swift confirmed on her website that she had bought back her masters, which she referred to as her 'entire life's work'.
She'd originally lost the rights to her first six albums' master recordings in 2019, following the expiration of her contract with Big Machine Label Group the previous year.
They were eventually sold to Scooter Braun, who formerly managed Justin Bieber, through his company, Ithaca Holdings, before being picked up by Shamrock Capital in late 2020.
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However, after '20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away', Swift managed to retain the rights once more, as she said: "All the times I was this close, reaching out for it, only for it to fall through."
She continued: "But that's all in the past now… I really get to say these words: All of the music I've ever made… now belongs to me.
All of my music videos. All the concert films. The album art and photography. The unreleased songs. The memories. The magic. The madness. Every single era. My entire life's work."
A recent report from Billboard has since claimed that she paid a pretty penny for them.
Various rumors alleged that the amount Swift had paid was between $600 million and $1 billion; however, other reports from publications like The Guardian have said that these figures are inaccurate.
According to Billboard, Shamrock was initially sold the rights for around $360 million and had reportedly sold it to Swift for close to what they'd originally paid for it.
In her message, Swift also praised Shamrock for how they handled the entire transaction, adding: "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."
Shamrock themselves also issued a statement on their website, writing: "We are thrilled with this outcome and are so happy for Taylor."
Meanwhile, Braun also spoke about the purchase, telling The Independent: "I am happy for her."
Her message reiterated how 'important it was for all of this to happen', as she said she was 'extremely heartened by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry among artists and fans'.
"Thank you for being 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 concluded.
UNILAD has contacted Taylor Swift’s representatives and Shamrock Capital for comment.