Fourteen-time Grammy-winning singer Taylor Swift’s long-running dispute over ownership of the master recordings of her early albums reached a major turning point in 2025.
As reported by Reuters, on May 30 last year, singer of Cruel Summer said that she had bought the master recordings of her first six albums from Shamrock Capital, which was the owner of the recordings at that moment. The financial details of the purchase have not been revealed.
Which Taylor Swift albums were involved
The six albums are Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 and Reputation.
She had recorded her first six albums with Big Machine Label Group. In 2019, Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine, including the master recordings of Swift’s first six albums. Blank Space singer subsequently said she had not been given the opportunity to purchase those masters when the acquisition took place.
The original masters were later sold to Shamrock Capital in 2020. Swift ultimately purchased them from Shamrock in 2025.
However, the Anti-Hero singer had not previously owned those original master recordings. In astatement, she described them as work she had “never owned until now,” as quoted in a letter from Taylorswift.com.
Why did Taylor Swift start re-recording her albums
After the 2019 change in ownership of her original masters, the Shake It Off singer began re-recording her earlier albums.
The new recordings were released under the “Taylor’s Version” name. She released Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version) in 2021, followed by Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) in 2023.
By May 2025, four of her first six albums had been re-recorded and released as Taylor’s Version. Swift said she had “meticulously re-recorded and released 4” of the albums.
