It’s the moment Swifties, and Taylor herself, have been dreaming of for years.
After a six-year battle that shook the music industry, Taylor Swift has officially regained ownership of the master recordings for her first six albums. In a raw, emotional letter to fans posted on her website, the 35-year-old superstar announced that her entire early catalog finally belongs to her.
“All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me,” she wrote, adding that she had been “bursting into tears of joy at random intervals” since the deal was finalized.
But this wasn’t just a contract signing, it was a personal victory nearly 20 years in the making.
A Dream Nearly Lost — Then Won
“My mind is just a slideshow,” she wrote, recalling years of dreaming, disappointment, and near-misses. “I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen.”
After enduring years of public setbacks, missed chances, and legal barriers, Swift now controls her original recordings of:
- Taylor Swift
- Fearless
- Speak Now
- Red
- 1989
- Reputation
The deal includes not just the songs themselves, but also music videos, concert films, album artwork, photography, and unreleased vault tracks. She called the acquisition “emotionally meaningful,” describing the material as “my memories and my sweat and my handwriting and my decades of dreams.”
“They really saw it for what it was to me,” she added, joking that she might get her first tattoo—a “huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead.”
The Long Road to Ownership
Swift’s fight for control began in 2019, when music executive Scooter Braun acquired Big Machine Records, her former label, in a $300 million deal. The sale gave Braun ownership of her original masters, something Taylor described at the time as her “worst case scenario.”
A year later, Braun sold the catalog to Shamrock Capital, but Swift declined to partner with the firm, citing Braun’s continued financial ties.
Rather than walk away, she took matters into her own hands—literally.
“I meticulously re-recorded and released four of my albums,” she wrote, referencing the Taylor’s Version editions of Fearless, Red, Speak Now, and 1989, which became massive commercial and cultural successes.
“The passionate support you showed those albums and the success story you turned The Eras Tour into is why I was able to buy back my music.”
Swift directly thanked her fans for their loyalty, saying: “You’ll never know how much it means to me that you cared. Every single bit of it counted.”
What’s Next: Reputation and Taylor Swift (TV)
While Swift has completed the re-recording of her debut album, Taylor Swift, she revealed that Reputation (Taylor’s Version) hasn’t even started.
“I haven’t even re-recorded a quarter of it,” she admitted, adding that the album was “so specific to that time in my life.” It was an era when she “longed to be understood while feeling purposely misunderstood.”
She confessed that Reputation is the one album she believed “couldn’t be improved upon,” which is why she kept putting it off.
Still, she promised fans that the vault tracks will come—when the timing feels right. “If it happens, it won’t be from a place of sadness… It will just be a celebration now.”
From Artist to Industry Icon
Swift’s battle has encouraged other artists to renegotiate for creative control, shifting the conversation around ownership in the industry.
“Because of this fight, I’m reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen,” she wrote. “Thank you to my fellow artists for making this a broad discussion.”
Her actions have already sparked change, with several musicians reevaluating their deals and advocating for artistic control. And with the runaway success of her Taylor’s Versions, Swift has proven that artists can reclaim their legacy—and thrive.
Those re-recordings, combined with the blockbuster Eras Tour, helped elevate her to billionaire status in early 2024, according to industry analysts.
“The best things that have ever been mine… finally actually are,” she wrote, quoting her song “Mine.”
From the Studio to Stadium Lights
With her music under full control, Swift can now focus on new chapters, including her relationship with Travis Kelce.
She even broke her recent social media silence to post photos of herself sitting cross-legged, smiling, surrounded by her first six original albums. The caption? A wink to fans:
“You belong with me.”
