Taylor Swift updates fans on album re-releases after major deal for her music
Taylor Swift made a surprise announcement on Friday about the fate of her music.
In an emotional letter shared to her website addressed to fans — first teased on Instagram — Swift revealed she has bought back her entire music catalog, giving her full control.
"Hi. 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,” she wrote.
She continued, "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. And all my music videos. 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."
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The drama over Swift’s music began back in 2019 when her former record label, Big Machine, sold the master recordings to her first six albums against her wishes to Scooter Braun, the music manager who had worked with Justin Bieber and Kanye West.
That prompted Swift to begin her re-recording project, releasing four “Taylor’s Versions” beginning with “Fearless,” followed by “Red,” “Speak Now,” and “1989.”
"To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it. 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. 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 wrote in her letter.
She also addressed fans biggest question: what will happen with the re-recordings of her debut album and “Reputation?”
"To be perfectly honest, it's the one album in those first 6 that I thought couldn't be improved upon by redoing it,” Swift wrote, admitting she hadn’t even re-recorded a quarter of it so far. “Not the music, or the photos, or videos. So I kept putting it off. There will be a time (if you're into the idea) for the unreleased vault tracks from that album to hatch.”
As for her debut album, she’s already full re-recorded it and said, “I really love how it sounds now.”
“Those 2 albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, if that would be 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."
To conclude her letter, she wrote, "I'm extremely hearted by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry among artists and fans. Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this fight, I'm reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen. Thank you for being curious about something that used to be thought of as too industry-centric for broad discussion. You'll never know how much it means to me that you cared. Every single bit of it counted, and ended us up here."
Swift signed off writing, "Thanks to you and your goodwill, teamwork, and encouragement, the best things that have ever been mine... finally actually are."
