Taylor Swift’s music may soon belong to her—and she has an unlikely ally in her corner.
Page Six reports that the original recordings of Swift’s first six albums are back up for sale.
Music manager Scooter Braun bought the lucrative asset for $300 million in 2019, then upsold them to investment firm Shamrock Capital a year later.
At the time Swift called Braun, who made his fortune managing Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, a “bully” and “the definition of toxic male privilege in our industry.” She also refused an option to take an equity share in her catalogue because the deal meant Braun would still get a cut of her royalties.
Now Braun is reportedly working behind the scenes to convince Shamrock Capital to sell the recordings back to Swift, according to Page Six.
The price tag would now be between $600 million and $1 billion—a huge sum but one Swift would likely be able to afford after her Eras tour broke all records, grossing over $2 billion.
Swift has also re-recorded and re-released four of the six albums she does not own the rights to. Swifties are still waiting for the “Taylor’s Version” editions of Reputation and her 2006 self-titled debut.
She has credited Kelly Clarkson for giving her the idea to reclaim her music by recreating the albums she didn’t own, adding unreleased material to sweeten the deal for fans essentially buying the albums for a second time. Her royalties from the Taylor’s Versions alone have been estimated to be $9 million. Owning the master recordings is not only a smart business move but provides full control over a music catalogue, including the right to approve or deny use in TV shows, movies or advertisements.
Swift signed with Big Machine in 2005 at the age of 15. She claimed to be blindsided when Big Machine was sold without giving her the chance to bid on her back catalogue. At the time Swift took to Tumblr to vent, writing: “Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.”
Swift fans got a taste of Reputation (Taylor’s Version) with the re-recorded version of “Look What You Made Me Do” featuring in The Handmaid’s Tale this week.
Read it at Page Six
