What Taylor Swift really paid for her masters, revealed
The post What Taylor Swift really paid for her masters, revealed appeared first on ClutchPoints.
Taylor Swift is finally in control of her music after a tumultuous fight to gain the masters of her first six albums.
Swift announced that she was able to buy her masters after Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings bought the record label which originally owned her albums, and sold them to Shamrock Capital in November 2020. The Grammy-winning singer was finally able to buy back her masters, but it did not come at a cheap price. According to Billboard, Swift bought back her masters for a whopping $360 million. Previous reports indicated that Swift paid $1 billion to own her music. It was also debunked that Braun was the reason behind the Shamrock sale.
'Contrary to a previous false report, there was no outside party who 'encouraged' this sale. All rightful credit for this opportunity should go to the partners at Shamrock Capital and Taylor's Nashville-based management team only,' the source told PEOPLE. 'Taylor now owns all of her music, and this moment finally happened in spite of Scooter Braun, not because of him.'
In a handwritten note posted to her official website, Swift gave insight to her fans on the journey she went through in order to obtain her masters.
'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 prayed away for a chance to get to tell you this news. All the times I was thisssss 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.'
By buying her masters, she was able to gain ownership of albums: Taylor Swift, 1989, Reputation, Red, Speak Now, and Fearless.
She added: 'To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty casual about it. To my fans, you know how important this has been to me—so much so that I meticulously re-recorded and released four albums, calling them Taylor's Versions. The passionate support you showed those albums and the success you found giving The Eras Tour into why I was able to buy back my music. I can't thank you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but never owned until now. All I've ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to one day purchase my music outright.'
In addition to her handwritten message she also posted a picture of herself surrounded by the six albums.
'You belong with me,' she wrote in the caption before instructing fans to head to her website for the handwritten letter. In the note she also gave fans an update on the 'Taylor's Version' of her re-recorded albums. Before she bought back her masters, she was was re-recording the albums and added additional songs onto the project.
She told fans that have been anticipating Reputation (Taylor's Version) that that album as well as her self-titled re-recording will 'have their moment to re-emerge when the time is right, if that is something you guys would be excited about.'
'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.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Verge
40 minutes ago
- The Verge
Apple's F1 movie is a hit.
Apple's F1 movie is a hit. The Brad Pitt-starring racing drama opened to more than $55 million in the US this weekend, and $144 million worldwide. That's still a ways short of the movie's $200-300 million production budget, but it's easily on track to beat the $221 million-earning Napoleon as Apple's biggest film yet.
Fast Company
an hour ago
- Fast Company
Is this Hollywood's moment of AI reckoning?
For some in Hollywood, as Silicon Valley's AI models have become impossible to ignore, it's better to have a seat at the table as these new technologies emerge, rather than sitting back and letting the tech titans take full control. This, at least, is the impetus behind Asteria, the generative AI studio cofounded by the filmmaking couple of Bryn Mooser and Natasha Lyonne, who promote their company as using 'ethical' AI. Lyonne has justified her embrace of the technology by explaining: 'It's better to get your hands dirty than pretend it's not happening.' The company has faced some backlash, both because Lyonne (tastelessly, her detractors would argue) claimed the late David Lynch had endorsed AI, and because its flagship model is proprietary—meaning we have no way to verify that it is indeed trained only on licensed material (as Lyonne and co. say it is). Meanwhile, James Cameron is on Stability AI's board, and has expressed his hope for using AI to make blockbuster filmmaking cheaper. Jason Blum's Blumhouse Productions has partnered with Meta for AI testing and chatbots. Lionsgate signed a deal with Runway, an AI startup valued at $3 billion, to let the company train its model on the studio's 20,000+ films and TV series; Runway also signed a deal with AMC. This embrace of AI, though, puts the James Camerons and Natasha Lyonnes of the world at odds with industry peers who are opting to push back on these would-be robot overlords before they take over.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Disney's stock has bagged an upgrade from Jeffries — here's why
Disney (DIS) is cruising for a higher stock price this summer, according to Jefferies analyst James Heaney. Heaney lifted his rating on Disney to Buy from Hold on Monday. His new price target of $144 assumes 18% upside ahead from the entertainment giant's current level of $124.84 per share. Yahoo Finance data shows Heaney is now one of the most bullish on the Street with respect to Disney. "We upgrade Disney to Buy for four primary reasons: 1) Now see limited risk of a second half parks slowdown from Epic Universe/Macro [economy]; 2) More positive on FY26 cruise [business] upside, Jefferies estimates $1 billion plus revenue uplift; 3) Continued direct-to-consumer margin expansion (0% FY24 to 13% plus by FY28 estimate); 4) View next six months content and sports slate favorably, including ESPN direct-to-consumer launch, Zootopia 2 and Avatar 3," Heaney wrote. Disney shares rose 2% in premarket trading on Monday. The stock is up 10% year to date, compared with a 4% advance for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI). "Disney has failed to grow operating income in FY16-FY24, but we believe this dynamic is set to change," Heaney added. His more bullish stance on Disney comes despite several headwinds facing the media giant. First, the media industry itself continues to face upheaval. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) said this month it will split up amid a shift to streaming that has financially hammered its legacy TV assets. The company joins rival Comcast (CMCSA) in separating TV operations from streaming assets. Meanwhile, Paramount (PARA) is still trying to close its merger deal with Skydance. Disney has repeatedly said it has no desire to spin off its TV networks, such as ABC, despite the industry challenges that have weighed on sales and profits. "I think it's harder [to split up] than most people realize. And the interesting thing is, for the past five to 10 years, we have been putting them together — linear TV content creates the streaming content. Now all of that has changed," former BET CEO and current Warner Bros. Discovery board member Debra Lee told Yahoo Finance earlier in June. Meantime, Disney is still smack in the middle of appointing a CEO to succeed Bob Iger. There are reportedly four internal candidates being considered for the coveted position, which Iger held from 2005 to 2020 before returning in November 2022. Those four are entertainment division co-chiefs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, parks division head Josh D'Amaro, and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro. Walden and D'Amaro are rumored to be top contenders. The search process must be executed flawlessly, following a high-profile bungling last time, when former CEO Bob Chapek was fired in favor of bringing back Iger. Chapek's brusque management style famously clashed with the many creatives who keep the magic inside of Disney's content and theme parks. A CEO decision is widely expected by year end. "I think the biggest skillset you have to have is a gift of a real strategic business sense, because there's a bunch of assets at Disney that are globally deployed. It's multifaceted, from theme parks to consumer products to movies to film to TV to Disney+ to Hulu to ESPN. You got to manage a lot, and then you have to also decide, what assets do we keep? What assets do we add?" Candle Media CEO and former top Disney exex Kevin Mayer said on Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid podcast (watch above). Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor and a member of Yahoo Finance's editorial leadership team. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
