She Told Us She’s a Mastermind
How Taylor Swift’s fight for her masters is rewriting economics in the music industry.
BY Juliet Seith ★ JUNE 22ND, 2025
design: Zoe Xixis
It’s been almost a month since Taylor Swift announced that she now owns the rights to every album she has written and released. After four years of “Taylor’s Version” albums, this news shocked her fans— especially those overly-eager for the new version of her 2016 album “Reputation.” But, many don’t seem to grasp exactly how impactful this is. It’s more than just a purchase; it is the final move in the strategic, six-year-long game she’s been playing, changing the relationship between artists and labels for good.
Quick recap of events:
2005: 16-year-old Taylor Swift makes a deal with Big Machine Records to release six albums under their label, which they will own all rights to.
2018: After releasing the six albums she promised, Swift leaves Big Machine Records to start her own label, where she has been releasing music since (under her own name).
2019: Big Machine Records sells her first six albums to Scooter Braun. Swift uses her platform to express her dissatisfaction, rallying fans in support.
2020: Braun sells her albums to Shamrock Capital, a private equity firm.
2021: “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” is released, kickstarting an era of Swift releasing four rerecorded albums under her own label, framing the original versions of the albums as stolen, and the new versions as ethically correct. “Red (Taylor’s Version)” follows.
2023: Two more re-records are released. Besides some lyric and production changes, the primary difference between these versions of the albums from the original comes down to money. Rather than receive the small percentage of royalties she earned as the songwriter and performer of older albums, Swift’s sole ownership means she earns almost all of the money from streams of the newer albums.
2025: Swift posts a letter on her website, announcing that she successfully negotiated a deal with Shamrock Capital and now owns the rights to all six of her old albums.
Most artists do not own the rights to their own music, especially pop and country artists. Even some of the biggest names right now, from Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter to Luke Bryan and Carrie Underwood, have no holding over their masters whatsoever. These artists still receive songwriting compensation and distribution rights to their music, but ultimate ownership and rights to license (such as in TV and movies) often remains with a bigger recording label — one that the artist initially signed a contract with.
Swift has had opportunities to own her masters before now. In 2019, she was offered the entirety of Big Machine Records (including her albums), and she declined. It is also speculated that Braun offered to sell them to her in 2020, but the pair could not come to an agreement.
While she and her fans felt robbed when her music was sold out from under her, it was not a unique situation. A third party, such as Braun, selling an artist’s work for profit is an unfair aspect of the music industry that Swift has been trying to change. On May 30, 2025, she achieved that goal — not by winning her personal fight against Braun, as many believe, but by helping shift the balance in the broader struggle between artists and record labels.
Swift finally owning the rights to her music puts her with some of the greats in pop music, such as Madonna and Beyoncé. Recently, many newer pop artists, such as Olivia Rodrigo and Madison Beer, have taken Swift’s situation into account when signing with labels and have ensured ownership of their masters. This is a fairly new concept for solo artists who have not been on the scene for very long. Labels have seen what Swift and her army did to Braun and Big Machine, and they do not want to risk running into a similar situation.
The continuous purchasing and selling of Swift’s masters is finally over. While she has been painted as a “winner,” there is no real loser in this situation. Braun allegedly made roughly $50 million on the music after owning it for just a year, while Shamrock Capital sold it to Swift for at least double what they paid five years ago.
The real winner is future artists on the pop scene. Complete ownership of their art is becoming more mainstream, allowing for more creative flexibility and motivation to make art that truly represents them — all thanks to the brilliant communicator, Taylor Swift.