Taylor Swift reclaims IP on master recordings of first six albums for reported $360m

In a surprise move, pop superstar Taylor Swift has finally succeeded in buying back the master recordings to her first six albums, after 20 years of trying.

The saga of Swift’s masters underlines the complexity of IP in the music business, where rights can be split between song writers, producers, performers, management, music publishers, video makers, and many more.

Swift said in a message to fans on her website: “All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me.” She then lists the IP she now controls including music videos, concert films, album art and photography, unreleased songs, and, or course, recorded works, before concluding “Every single era. My entire life’s work.”

In 2005, Swift, then aged 16, signed a deal with the recently launched management company, Big Machine, which paid her a lump sum in exchange for the master recording rights for her first six albums. Big Machine released Swift’s first single, Tim McGraw, in 2006 and her first six albums, Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 and Reputation.

In 2018, Swift’s contract with Big Machine ran out and she signed a new contract with Republic Records, part of Universal Music Group. That contract gave her the rights over future master recordings.

A year later, in 2019, music manager Scooter Braun, via his company Ithaca Holdings, bought Swift's former record label Big Machine for an estimated £300m, including the master recording rights to all of the songs from her first six albums.

Swift rejected suggestions that she had been offered the chance to buy the master rights for the first six albums back, claiming the first she heard about the deal was when it was officially announced. However, there were reports that her management team had been advised of the proposed sale in advance. Swift’s father was in fact a minority shareholder in Big Machine.

Whatever the truth of the claims, it led to a major row between Swift, Braun and their respective supporters, largely carried out via social media.

Swift then announced plans to re-record all six albums (she retained the copyright on the music and lyrics) specifically so she would own the master recordings for these versions (all to be named with the album name, then ‘Taylor’s Version’). She would also gain further licensing rights over the new albums.

Braun then sold the master rights he owned to Disney family investment firm Shamrock Capital in 2020 for an estimated $405m and their agreement that he could continue to collect revenues on them.

Media reports suggest that the first new Taylor’s versions of the albums had significantly outsold the originals and massively reduced the value of the original masters. IP experts have said her move was a masterstroke, in effect regaining her rights, while also being able to take advantage of major improvements in recording technology to deliver enhanced albums to her millions of fans worldwide.

Stories further suggested that Braun’s investors were spooked by Swift’s re-recording project. Apparently, they had begun pushing for some kind of resolution with Swift, as the controversy and Swift’s new album versions were damaging his company’s value – hence the sale of the master recordings to Shamrock.

Finally, in May 2025, Swift was able to announce that she had bought back the master rights to the first six albums from Shamrock. While the actual financial settlement has not been disclosed, music industry media suggest it was around $360m.

Swift publicly thanked Shamrock Capital for giving her the opportunity to purchase every aspect of her career work. USA Today said that sources had told it that there was no outside party involved in the sale and that any sale price in news stories was "highly inaccurate."

Significantly, Swift’s fight to reclaim her rights over her early work has led to her being seen as a heroine within the music industry. Incidentally, she is also reported to be the first musician to have become a billionaire mainly on the back of income from their music rights.

If there is a moral to this story, then it is that any person or company which owns potentially valuable IP should be careful before signing any deals which might involve them surrendering control over their intangible assets.