Taylor Swift has made a massive announcement about her music.
Some years ago, Scooter Braun's company Ithaca Holdings LLC purchased Big Machine Label Group and all of its recorded music assets, which included Swift's first six albums.
Braun, who retired at the age of 42 last year, proceeded to sell the master rights to those albums, meaning that the 'Bad Blood' singer did not own her music she released while with Big Machine Label Group. Her contract with them expired in 2018.
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Braun proceeded to sell the masters to Swift's records to the private equity firm Shamrock Capital for a reported $300 million.
But, after years of fighting, Swift now officially owns all of her music.
Announcing the news in a heartfelt letter shared to her website, the history-making singer said: "I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away. But that’s all in the past now. All of the music I’ve ever made … now belongs … to me."
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"To say this is the greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it," Swift went on to say of the news.
"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.
"The passionate support you showed those albums and the success story you turned The Eras Tour into is why I was able to buy back my music.
"I 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."
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Taylor's heartfelt message continued: "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 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."
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With Swift's debacle in mind, she said that it has sparked other artists to ensure that they own their master recordings, with some also having considered re-recording their music.
"I’m extremely heartened by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry among artists and fans," said the 'Shake It Off' hitmaker.
"Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this fight, I’m reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen.
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"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 the lengthly letter describing herself as feeling 'elated and amazed'.
Topics: Taylor Swift, Music, News
Niamh Shackleton