Taylor Swift’s announcement that she had purchased the rights back to her first six albums came as a shock to many fans. Here’s what happened and its implications for the industry today, including for Buffalo musicians Chelsea O’Donnell and Cami Clune.

By Chloe Kowalyk 
(Above: Taylor Swift poses with her first six albums. Via @taylorswift on Instagram).

Last month, Taylor Swift did something unprecedented. Following a dispute spanning several years, she purchased the rights back to her first six albums. 

While Swift is a major artist ranked eighth in the world on Spotify, the regaining of her masters is something many artists, including local musicians in Western New York, can relate to. 

“Masters” simply refers to the unedited, original recordings of songs and music on an album. If an artist owns their masters, they are able to control how their music is edited, distributed, licensed and even whether it can be performed. 

Swift’s journey to reclaiming her music 

Swift’s story on regaining her masters is a long, complicated web of record signings and deals.

In 2005, Swift was signed to a 13-year recording contract with “Big Machine Records,” which gave the label ownership over her first six albums in exchange for a cash advance (the amount of which is unknown to the public).  

These first six albums are: 

• Taylor Swift (2006)
• Fearless (2008)
• Speak Now (2010)
• Red (2012)
• 1989 (2014)
• Reputation (2017)

Swift was just 14-years-old at the time of the deal. 

In 2018, she signed a new contract with Universal Music Group’s Republic Records once her contract with Big Machine Records had ended, following a variety of disagreements with the label. 

Then, in 2019, Big Machine Records was sold for an estimated $300 million to a group owned by music investor and manager Scooter Braun called “Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings LLC.” 

Braun is known for managing young artists such as Justin Bieber, who he discovered on YouTube, and Ariana Grande. 

The very next year, after Braun acquired Big Machine Records and thus the masters of Swift’s first six albums, he sold the masters to a group called “Shamrock Capital,” a private equity and investment firm, for an estimated $300 – $360 million.  

Swift was extremely upset to hear that her masters had been sold and wanted them back. 

Braun and Swift would then exchange heated messages on social media, with other celebrities joining in and taking sides. 

For a detailed look at this timeline, visit Billboard’s recount here. 

The selling of Swift’s masters prevented her from performing these early songs, as well as discouraging her from allowing for their use in commercials, films, etc since she didn’t actually own them. 

Notably, she required approval to perform her old songs at the American Music Awards in 2019. 

A sense of freedom (Taylor’s Version)

At the time, Swift was toying with the idea of re-recording these first six album’s to regain ownership of the songs, despite not owning the actual masters. 

She said in an interview with Billboard magazine at the time, “It’s going to be fun, because it’ll feel like regaining a freedom and taking back what’s mine. When I created [these songs], I didn’t know what they would grow up to be. Going back in and knowing that it meant something to people is actually a really beautiful way to celebrate what the fans have done for my music.”

This began the highly discussed “Taylor’s Version” project, as Swift began to re-record her old music and re-release these albums, calling them “the album’s nam”: Taylor’s Version.” 

The following were released in this project: 

• Fearless (Taylor’s Version)
• Red (Taylor’s Version)
• Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)
• 1989 (Taylor’s Version)

This project sparked excitement from fans, as the most loyal Swifties began streaming only Taylor’s Version of these albums to support Swift. 

Fans urged only listening to Taylor’s Version, and continued their distaste for Scooter Braun. 

The re-releases were teased, and fans were speculating that Reputation (Taylor’s Version) would be released next, even though the first album, “Taylor Swift,” was skipped (as it likely held a lower priority due to lower streams and less interest). 

Fans have continued to suspect the release of Reputation (Taylor’s Version), looking for hidden messages in the media. 

That was, until May 30, when Swift announced the ownership of her music on her social media. 

“All of the music I’ve ever made … now belongs … to me.”

These were the words Taylor Swift wrote in a letter posted to her website and teased on her social media. 

The post, a series of images of her posing with her first six albums with the caption: “You belong with me. 💚💛💜❤️🩵🖤 Letter on my site :)” gained significant attention online. 

Some wishful fans, though, continue to hope for the release of Reputation (Taylor’s Version) or “Rep TV.”

Implications for the wider music industry 

Love her or hate her, Swift’s story of reclaiming her masters is incredibly important for the music industry and the ownership musicians have over their own art. 

Many artists have spoken out about treatment from labels and the respect for their art. 

At the 2025 Grammys, Chappell Roan used her acceptance speech for Best New Artist to call out labels, urging them to treat artists as employees with livable wages and healthcare, saying that labels are profiting millions of dollars off of artists and not treating them properly. 

The late Tom Petty stood up to his label back in 1979 after his original label was sold to MCA (Music Corporation of America), which subsequently made him lose his publishing rights. 

Prince had a similar instance to Swift, as he signed with Warner Music in 1977 and it owned his masters. After he left the label in 1996, he finally struck a deal to reclaim his masters in 2014. 

Music is a business, and that often means ownership of art by outside entities, complicated deals and contracts and the peculiar idea of owning art that isn’t yours.

Swift’s Taylor’s Version project has led many organizations such as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group to change their contracts, many of them mandating that artists wait to re-record their music for 10-30 years following the original contract. 

So will we ever get Reputation (Taylor’s Version)? The answer to that question remains unknown.