Taylor Swift has announced she now owns the rights to all of her music, concert films, videos, album art, and unreleased songs.
The 35-year-old revealed in a letter to her fans that Shamrock Capitol had sold her catalog back to her after "honest, fair and respectful" negotiations.
The singer also confirmed that she had not finished re-recording her 2017 album Reputation, and that a release may not ever happen, but that she had finished her debut self-titled album and was considering a re-release.
“I know, I know. What about (Reputation (Taylor’s Version))?" she wrote. "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."
"So I kept putting it off, there will be a time (if you’re into the idea) for the unreleased vault tracks from that album to hatch. I’ve already completely re-recorded my entire debut album, and I really love how it sounds now. Those two 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.
© Getty“But if it happens, it won’t be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have. It will just be a celebration now.”
Surprise announcement
In the announcement, the singer said: "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 this 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," she continued.
"And all my music videos, 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."
© Getty Images for TAS Rights ManaThe singer, who had been re-recoridmg her first six albums to own the fill rights, thanked fans for the passion they had for the Taylor's Versions, and said it was their love that allowed her to "reunite with this art".
Look What You Made Me Do
A re-record of the first single from Reputation, "Look What You Made Me Do," premiered on an episode of The Handmaid's Tale in late May.
"Our cast and crew are filled with Swifties and I know Elisabeth Moss has been looking for an opportunity to include one of Taylor's songs on the show," showrunner Eric Tuchman told HELLO! at TheWrap's inaugural Showrunners & Creators Breakfast on May 21, revealing how the collaboration came about after all these years.
"Wendy Hallam Martin, our editor for the episode, realized it would be the perfect song for that sequence, and it worked so beautifully."
© AFP via Getty ImagesIt was the perfect moment for the song, which was first released in 2017 and came after Taylor disappeared from the public eye for almost 12 months following Kanye West and Kim Kardashian's attempted takedown of the singer.
The song recalls a betrayal from a supposed close confidante, and how the protagonist has returned "up from the dead" to fight back and reclaim their reputation.
In the scene in question, the handmaids and Aunt Phoebe are seen marching through town to meet up with the Mayday trucks but as the trucks carrying guardians arrive to chase them down, they begin to run – and the bombs set by Mayday begin to go off.
© GC ImagesWhat are the Taylor' Versions?
In August 2019, Taylor announced that she would be re-recording and releasing her first six albums, all of which were owned by her first record label, Big Machine.
Big Machine's owner Scott Borchetta – the man who had helped Taylor's career blossom and whom she had considered a second father – sold the label to Scooter Braun, whom Taylor had accused of "incessant bullying".
In response, because Taylor still owned the publishing rights, as she is the primary songwriter on all of her songs, she was able to re-record them, therefore allowing her to own the original six albums as new releases.
She has so far released Fearless and Red in 2021, and 1989 and Speak Now in 2023.
