Taylor Swift’s entire life’s work now belongs to…*checks notes* Taylor Swift! In a letter to fans published on her website, the superstar says she’s regained full ownership of her music – nearly 6 years after her old record label sold it all to Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings who then sold it on to Shamrock Capital.
“To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it… I can’t thank you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but have never owned until now.”
www.TaylorSwift.com
She praised Shamrock for recognising what the purchase meant to her, shared her extreme gratitude to her fans for being the reason she could own her entire music catalogue again, AND yes, she acknowledged what all this means for Reputation (Taylor’s Version) and her debut album too: “those two albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right.”
The best part of her letter – besides the bit about how she’ll consider getting a Shamrock tattoo in the middle of her forehead – is when she writes about the conversations her situation has generated in the music industry:
“Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this fight, I’m reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen.”
You can check out her letter in full below (yes, we zoomed in and saved you the squint!):
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Hi,
I’m trying to gather my thoughts into something coherent, but right now my mind is just a slideshow. A flashback sequence of all the times I daydreamed about, wished for, and pined away for a chance to get to tell you this news. All the times I was thiiiiiiiis close, reaching out for it, only for it to fall through. I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away. But that’s all in the past now. I’ve been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out that this is really happening. I really get to say these words:
All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me.
And all my music videos.
And all the concert films.
The album art and photography.
The unreleased songs.
The memories. The magic. The madness.
Every single era.
My entire life’s work.
To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it. To my fans, you know how important this has been to me – so much so that I meticulously re-recorded and released four of my albums, calling them Taylor’s Version. 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. I can’t thank you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but have never owned until now.
All I ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to one day purchase my music outright with no strings attached, no partnership, with full autonomy. I will be forever grateful to everyone at Shamrock Capital for being the first people to ever offer this to me. The way they’ve handled every interaction we’ve had has been honest, fair, and respectful. This was a business deal to them, but I really felt like they saw it for what it was to me: My memories and my sweat and my handwriting and my decades of dreams. I am endlessly thankful. My first tattoo might just be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead.
I know, I know. What about Rep TV? Full transparency: I haven’t even re-recorded a quarter of it. The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life, and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it. All that defiance, that longing to be understood while feeling purposely misunderstood, that desperate hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief. To be perfectly honest, it’s the one album in the first 6 that I thought couldn’t be improved by redoing it. Not the music, or photos, or videos. So I kept putting it off. There will be a time (if you’re into the idea) for the unreleased Vault tracks from the album to hatch. I’ve already completely re-recorded my entire debut album, and I really love how it sounds now. Those 2 albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about. But if it happens, it won’t be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have. It will be a celebration now.
I’m extremely heartened by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry among artists and fans. Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this fight, I’m reminded how important it was for all of this to happen. Thank you for being curious about something that used to be thought of as too industry-centric for broad discussion. You’ll never know how much it means to me that you cared. Every single bit of it counted and ended us up here.
Thanks to you and your goodwill, teamwork and encouragement, the best things that have ever been mine… finally actually are.
Elated and amazed,
Taylor.
(Feature Image Credit: TAS Rights Management)
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