I had been barrupling something weeks. He had left clues, his famous Easter eggs but, as always, his power has reached far beyond the imagination of his fan. This Friday, the 35 -year -old singer, has announced not the launch of an album or some re -region, but recovers the rights of the recordings of her first six albums: which gives her absolute control, for the first time, of all her work.
This has been announced in its networks, but also in a “all the music that I have made now belongs to me,” he has written in that letter, recognizing that he has been “crying from joy at intervals.” Swift had lost the rights of those first six albums, but during the last couple of years he has re -recorded the second (Fearless), third (Speak Now), room (Red) and fifth (1989), with huge. In which they pointed to the launch of the sixth and most anticipated, Reputation; Or maybe the first, the most naif Taylor Swift. But today the surprise has been another: it is done with everyone.
The loss of the rights of her first six albums by the artist is one of the darkest and painful episodes of her career. In 2019, which was his record record since he began his career, with 15 years, to leave for Universal. Then the owner of the musical company, Scott Borchetta, became the owner of all the masters of the artist, which implied possessing both their songs and their copyright, either in the form of letters, recordings or videos. That involves hundreds of songs, everything that belonged to him between 2006, when he launched his first album, called Taylor Swiftand 2017, with the sixth, Reputation.
Although she, as she said, assumed that that could happen, what she never imagined is that they did not even give her the opportunity to buy that catalog for herself. In fact, there was a worse return: months later, a businessman and manager of singers such as Justin Bieber and Demi Lovato, bought Big Machine at Borchetta for 300 million dollars, about 265 million euros. It is estimated that half of the value of that purchase was for Swift’s work. In 2020, a risk capital company called Shamrock took them with them. It is that, now, Swift has been bought.
“I can’t thank you enough for having helped me to meet with this art that I have dedicated my life, but I have never possessed so far,” In the letter to his fans. “The best things that have been mine … finally are really.” “To say that my biggest dream has come true is to fall short,” he writes in that emotional letter.
This purchase, whose economic agreement is unknown, implies that Swift also recovers its musical videos, concerts related to these themes, their related photographs and, also, the songs that have not launched from each of those stages.
In recent days, some tabloids pointed out that Swift could recover those regrabations, but they assumed that it was because Braun was willing to resale. Sources close to Swift have affirmed to media as this has not been so. “Contrary to a previous false report, there was no external part to ‘encourage’ this sale,” they say. “All legitimate credit for this opportunity must go to the members of Shamrock Capital and the Taylor Management team based in Nashville only,” says that source. “Taylor now owns all his music, and this moment finally happened despite Scooter Braun, no thanks to him.”
In fact, in her letter the artist thank Shamrock for the opportunity and for being “honest, clear and respectful” with her during the transaction: “This was a business agreement for them, but I always felt that they saw what it was for me: my memories, my sweat, my writing and my decades of dreams.”
Regarding its new version of Reputationthat long -awaited album by the fans, which said that the songs that they never published “are fire”, is clear about it. “Total transparency: I have not even recorded a quarter,” he acknowledges, to the surprise of many of his followers, who thought he was almost ready. “Reputation It is so specific to that stage of my life that, when I try to re -record it, I reach a point where I stop, ”he explains. He recognizes that in that alb He loves how it sounds. ” But if it happens, it will not be from a place of sadness or anxiety for what it could have been. Now, it will be a celebration. ”
Since he lost the rights, something that described as “the worst possible scenario,” Swift embarked on a legal and cultural battle for recovering control of his music, and announced that he would record the discs again under his own terms (to recover the creative and economic control of his work). Thus were born Taylor’s Version: His own versions, slightly modified, of the songs of those albums. A commercial success that ended up becoming a symbolic movement. Between 2021 and 2023, Swift recorded his albums again Fearless (originally launched in 2008), Red (2012), Speak Now (2010) y 1989 (2014). Also, he also took out Loveras well as and in pandemic, later and last year
That successful catalog was presented on his tour; In fact, this Friday is exactly one year after its second date in Madrid. That tour became the first in history to raise one billion dollars (about 900 million euros) and, finally, in total. As Swift acknowledges to his fans in the letter: “The passionate support you have shown to those albums and the success story in which they turned to The Eras Tour It is the reason why I have been able to repurchase my work. “
