You belong with me.
Taylor Swift has revealed that she “finally” owns her music catalogue six years after it was sold to Scooter Braun for a reported $300 million in June 2019.
The 35-year-old pop superstar shared the news in an emotional announcement on Friday.
“Hi,” Swift began. “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 thiiiiiiiiiiiiis close, reaching out for it, only for it to fall through,” she continued in the lengthy letter posted to her website. “I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled then yanked away. But that’s all in the past now.”
The “Anti-Hero” songstress added that she has regained control of her “entire life’s work,” including not just her masters but also music videos, photos and unreleased songs.
“I’ve been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out that this is really happening,” she wrote. “I really get to say these words: All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me.”
“And all my music videos,” Swift continued. “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.”
Swift called the exciting news her “greatest dream come true” and thanked her millions of fans for the “passionate support” they gave her and her music over the past six years.
“To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,” she said. “To my fans, you know how important this has been to me – so much so that I meticulously re-recorded and released 4 of my albums, calling them Taylor’s Version.”
“The passionate support you showed those albums and the success story you turned The Eras Tour into is why I was able to buy back my music,” the 14-time Grammy Award-winning artist added. “I can’t thank you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but have never owned until now.”
Swift then thanked Shamrock Capital, the private equity firm that acquired the master recordings of her first six albums from Braun’s company, Ithaca Holdings, in 2020.
“All I’ve ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to purchase my music outright with no strings attached, no partnership, with full autonomy,” she said. “I will be forever grateful to everyone at Shamrock Capital for being the first people to ever offer this to me.”
“The way they’ve handled every interaction we’ve had has been honest, fair, and respectful,” the “Love Story” singer wrote further. “This was a business deal to them, but I really felt like they saw it for what it was to me: My memories and my sweat and my handwriting and my decades of dreams.”
“I am endlessly thankful,” she added. “My first tattoo might just be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead.”
Swift’s six-year fight to regain control of her first six masters began in June 2019 when Braun, 43, purchased Big Machine Records.
Swift was the first singer to sign on with BMR in 2005, and when Braun acquired the record label, he also acquired the masters to every album from 2006’s “Taylor Swift” to 2017’s “Reputation.”
Braun, who has managed stars like Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, ultimately sold Swift’s catalog to Shamrock Capital in November 2020.
It is unclear how much Swift paid Shamrock Capital to regain control of her masters.
Meanwhile, an insider familiar with the negotiations told People that, contrary to certain reports, Braun was in no way involved in the deal between the “Shake It Off” singer and the private equity firm.
“Contrary to a previous false report, there was no outside party who ‘encouraged’ this sale,” the source said. “All rightful credit for this opportunity should go to the partners at Shamrock Holdings and Taylor’s Nashville-based management team only.”
“Taylor now owns all of her music, and this moment finally happened in spite of Scooter Braun, not because of him,” they added.
Content shared from nypost.com.