Six years after her old label, Big Machine, sold her first six albums to Scooter Braun’s company, Taylor Swift has now bought back the rights to that music herself. She shared on social media that now all of her early work officially belongs to her.
She bought her catalog—originally released with Big Machine—from the latest owner, Shamrock Capital. She didn’t say how much she paid.
Lately, Taylor’s been re-recording her first albums so she can have control over her own music. She’s been saying how grateful she is to her fans for helping her reconnect with her art, which she’s worked on her entire life but didn’t own until now.
Her “Taylor’s Version” re-releases often include extras like unreleased songs, Easter eggs, and visuals that add to the story of each album. This all kicked off after Scooter Braun bought and then sold her early catalog, prompting her to take back control. Last year, she even released a new track, The Tortured Poets Department, announced during the 2024 Grammys and played during her record-breaking tour.
Scooter Braun commented that he’s happy for her, and Shamrock Capital said they’re glad to see Taylor succeed.
So far, she’s re-recorded four albums: Fearless and Red in 2021, and 1989 in October 2023—just a few months after Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). Those releases were huge hits, debuting at number one on Billboard.
Fans think Reputation (Taylor’s Version) might be next. Recently, a snippet of Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor’s Version) played almost entirely in an episode of The Handmaid’s Tale. The song was also teased in other shows like Wilderness and The Dynasty: New England Patriots. Plus, she did a version of Delicate for the series The Summer I Turned Pretty.
But Taylor says she’s only re-recorded about a quarter of her catalog so far. She’s happy with how her debut album sounds now and mentions that both her debut and Reputation will have their moments to come back when the time’s right.
Read Taylor’s Note to her fans:
