Taylor Swift masters dispute

In 2005, 15-year-old Taylor Swift signed a record deal with Big Machine Records that gave the label ownership of the masters of her first six studio albums.
Scooter Braun's 2019 purchase of Big Machine included those masters, which he sold to Shamrock Holdings the following year.

On June 30, 2019, the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift entered into a dispute with her former record label, Big Machine Records, its founder Scott Borchetta, and its new owner Scooter Braun, over the ownership of the masters of her first six studio albums.[note 1] Ultimately, Swift re-recorded several of the albums and released them between 2021 and 2023 as Fearless (Taylor's Version), Red (Taylor's Version), Speak Now (Taylor's Version), and 1989 (Taylor's Version). The dispute drew widespread media coverage and provoked debate and discussion in the entertainment industry.

In November 2018, Swift signed a record deal with Republic Records after her Big Machine contract expired.[note 2] Mainstream media reported in June 2019 that Braun purchased Big Machine from Borchetta for $330 million, funded by various private equity firms. Braun had become the owner of all of the masters, music videos, and artworks copyrighted by Big Machine, including those of Swift's first six studio albums. In response, Swift stated she had tried to purchase the masters but Big Machine had offered unfavorable conditions, and she knew the label would sell them to someone else but did not expect Braun as the buyer, alleging him to be an "incessant, manipulative bully".[note 3] Borchetta claimed that Swift declined an opportunity to purchase the masters.

Consequently, Big Machine and Swift were embroiled in a series of disagreements leading to further friction; Swift alleged that the label blocked her from performing her songs at the 2019 American Music Awards and using them in her documentary Miss Americana (2020), while Big Machine released Live from Clear Channel Stripped 2008 (2020), an unreleased work by Swift, without her approval. Swift announced she would re-record the six albums and own the new masters herself. In October 2020, Braun sold the old masters to the Disney family's investment firm, Shamrock Holdings,[note 4] for $405 million under the condition that he keeps profiting from the masters. Swift expressed her disapproval again, rejected Shamrock's offer for an equity partnership, and released the re-recorded albums via Republic, to critical and commercial success, breaking multiple sales, streaming, and chart records.

The dispute affected the entertainment industry. Various musicians, journalists, politicians, and scholars supported Swift's stance, prompting a discourse on artists' rights, intellectual property, private equity, and industrial ethics. iHeartRadio, the largest radio network in the United States, replaced the older versions in its airplay with Swift's re-recorded tracks. Billboard named Swift the Greatest Pop Star of 2021 for the successful and unprecedented outcomes of her re-recording venture. A two-part documentary about the dispute, Taylor Swift vs Scooter Braun: Bad Blood, was released in 2024. Publications have said Swift's response and move to re-record has encouraged new artists to negotiate for greater ownership of their music. Braun has since expressed regret about the purchase and sold his entire holding company, Ithaca, to Hybe Corporation.

  1. ^ McGrath, Rachel (August 11, 2023). "Taylor Swift's Rerecordings Explained: This Is Why She's Releasing 'Taylor's Versions'". HuffPost. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference inews was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tumblr post was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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