Taylor Swift buys rights to her first six albums

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Taylor Swift has bought the original recordings of her first six albums from investment group Shamrock Capital, ending a years-long saga that spurred her to re-record her old work and elevated her career to new heights. 

“To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,” Swift wrote on her website on Friday. “All I’ve 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.” The value of the deal is not known.

Los Angeles-based Shamrock in 2020 acquired Swift’s music catalogue from Scooter Braun’s investment group for more than $300mn. At the time Swift was furious, announcing she would re-record the songs in a move that would “diminish the value” of the asset Shamrock had bought.  

Swift followed through on that threat, releasing new copies of four of her old albums — branding them “Taylor’s Versions” — and expanding her fan base through a record-breaking “Eras Tour” concert run.

Swift has claimed that Braun, a powerful music executive who is credited with discovering pop star Justin Bieber, conspired with her former Nashville record label Big Machine Records to block her from acquiring her music.

She framed the dispute as a battle for artists’ rights, fuelling industry-wide debate and motivating other musicians to demand control of their master recordings. As a 15-year-old signing her first record deal, Swift agreed to forgo ownership of her music, in what was a standard contract at the time.

For an artist such as Swift, old music can generate significant revenue for decades as songs continue to be used in television adverts and films, played in shopping malls and restaurants or streamed by fans. The catalogue she acquired generates about $60mn in annual revenue, according to Billboard estimates. 

Shamrock did not respond to a request for comment.