Taylor Swift may still have a chance to reclaim that master recordings that were snatched away from her years ago.
The 35-year-old singer–songwriter — recently debuted a rerecorded version of one of her Reputation songs on The Handmaid’s Tale — has been engaged in a campaign to rerecord her first six albums and release them as deluxe ‘Taylor’s Version’ editions with a wealth of bonus material.
But now the current owner of her masters is interested in selling the recordings, according to Page Six.
Ironically, one figure that has allegedly been pushing for the deal behind the scenes is music mogul Scooter Braun, who was part of the original deal to snatch up Swift’s masters for $300 million, before selling them at a profit to their current owner, the private equity firm Shamrock Capital.
However, a source told DailyMail.com that they were skeptical of claims that Braun was urging a sale to her and suggested it may have been an attempt to launder his public image after it suffered in the wake of the hitmaker’s public feud with him.
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Taylor Swift may have a chance to buy back her master recordings, as sources told Page Six that current owner Shamrock Capital is interested in a sale; pictured in February in LA
Music mogul Scooter Braun bought Swift’s pre-Lover master recordings in 2019, only to sell them to Shamrock a year later. In response, Swift launched her ‘Taylor’s Version’ series of rerecordings
It would certainly be a surprising about-face, as Swift claimed in 2019 that Braun — whom she described as a ‘bully’ — only offered to sell her masters to her if she would first sign an ‘ironclad’ non-disclosure agreement that would allegedly prevent her from ever saying anything negative about him.
According to her, Braun refused to quote her a price on the masters before she signed the NDA, and she would allegedly still be bound by it even if the two failed to reach an agreement.
She also claimed that Braun and Ithaca Holdings, which original purchased her masters, would continue to profit off them for years after the sale to Shamrock.
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DailyMail.com has reached out to representatives for Swift, Braun and Shamrock Capital for comment.
‘Interestingly enough, one of the individuals who is encouraging this deal to take place is Scooter, who was at the center of the deal the first time around alongside [Taylor’s previous record label] Big Machine,’ a source claimed to Page Six.
Taylor previously claimed that she was unaware that Braun planned to buy her former label — which gave him control of her master recordings — and she also claimed that when she previously approached Big Machine label head Scott Borchetta about buying her masters beforehand, he allegedly would only sell her them one at a time, starting from her earliest, least-profitable recordings.
In exchange for the option to be the masters back, Swift claimed she would have to record a new a new album for the label in exchange for each old recording she bought, shackling her to Big Machine for years to come just when she was eager to leave the label.
‘The team at Shamrock want to make sure that Taylor has knowledge that they are trying to put this deal to her, as they are not sure that she was ever offered them the first time around,’ a source claimed.
A source claimed Swift’s nemesis Braun was pushing for the potential sale. But another expressed skepticism to DailyMail.com and suggested he may be trying to launder his image after Swift publicly eviscerated him; pictured in 2021 in LA
‘The team at Shamrock want to make sure that Taylor has knowledge that they are trying to put this deal to her, as they are not sure that she was ever offered them the first time around,’ a source claimed to Page Six; seen in February 2024 in Sydney,
Shamrock currently receives a fee whenever someone streams, downloads or buys physical copies of Swift’s early albums, though she is still paid for her publishing rights; seen in October 2024 in Miami Gardens, Florida
The HBO Max documentary Bad Blood previously suggested that Borchetta and Braun both offered Swift chances to buy her master recordings, and it raised questions about her claims that Braun had required her to sign an NDA before he was willing to sell her the recordings.
Shamrock currently owns the master recordings to Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 and Reputation.
Ownership of the master recordings means that Shamrock receives a fee whenever someone downloads or steams songs or purchases a physical copy of the original albums.
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It could theoretically also profit whenever her songs are licensed for use in ads, films or television shows, though Swift still has the right to block those deals, and which she has reportedly taken full advantage of.
However, according to Rolling Stone, the bulk of potential revenue from owning the master recordings comes from regular listeners, rather than licensing deals.
Regardless of the ownership of the recordings, Taylor still receives royalties for having written her songs, and she also receives the recording royalties when her rerecorded versions are streamed or purchased.
Clayton Durant, founder of the music consulting firm CAD Management, told the publication that it would likely cost her around $600 million to as much as $1 billion to buy back her original recordings.
That would be an astounding figure at either end of the spectrum — as Taylor is worth $1.6 billion, according to Forbes — but Durant suggested it could still be worth it, and she would then be receiving the vast majority of earnings from the recording royalties on all her music, and she would also have the option again to license her original recordings for additional income.
Taylor previously claimed that Scooter would only offer to sell the recordings to her after she signed an ‘ironclad’ NDA, which would allegedly still govern her even if the sale failed; pictured in 2021 in NYC
Taylor has lately been swept into the controversy around her former friend Blake Lively and the actress’ ongoing legal battle with her It Ends With Us director and costar Justin Baldoni, whom she is suing for sexual harassment; pictured together in December 2023 in NYC
He said a deal that allows her to regain full control over her recordings going back to the start of her career would be worthwhile because it ‘exponentially increase the amount of money she makes.’
Durant added that whenever Swift releases a new Taylor’s Version of her old albums, streams and sales of her original versions also spike, increasing the earnings that she’s excluded from under the current arrangement.
Taylor has lately been swept into the controversy around her former friend Blake Lively and the actress’ ongoing legal battle with her It Ends With Us director and costar Justin Baldoni, whom she is suing for sexual harassment.
A source exclusively tells DailyMail.com that Blake’s once-inseparable friend ‘is done’ with her after feeling she had been ‘exploited.’
The revelation comes in the wake of DailyMail.com’s exclusive reporting indicating that Blake allegedly threatened to leak embarrassing private text messages from her former bestie unless Taylor agreed to publicly back her in her feud with Justin.