Latest news with #IthacaHoldings
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Taylor Swift Buys Back Her Music By Paying Millions — Report
Taylor Swift has recently bought back her music, rewriting the narrative of artistic freedom. Years after Scooter Braun bought the masters to her first six studio albums, they were sold to Shamrock Capital. The pop star reportedly paid an estimated $360 million to buy back the rights to her music. This chapter marks a major milestone in Swift's career after a long-fought battle over artistic control. In a landmark move, Taylor Swift reportedly bought back her music for almost $360 million. The master of her early discography, from her self-titled debut to 'Reputation,' was sold off in 2019. Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings purchased the albums, which were later sold to a private equity firm, Shamrock Capital. Swift was not aware of the negotiations and learned about the deals after they were finalized. As per Billboard, Shamrock Capital struck a deal with Swift to sell the rights back to her. Moreover, they aligned the purchase price roughly with the firm's original investment. The firm reportedly made around $100 million during its three-year ownership of Swift's masters. However, it sold them off to the 'Cruel Summer' singer with little to no additional profit by striking the estimated $360 million deal. Swift has been vocal about the importance of artists' rights over their music since the ordeal began. As a result of the unprecedented acquisition of her albums by Braun, the Grammy winner publicly committed to re-recording the six albums. She began recording them under the banner of 'Taylor's Version,' adding songs 'From the Vault.' Her re-recorded albums dominated the charts, even outperforming the originals in streaming and sales, according to Billboard. Swift's hard-won victory marks a turning point for artists' rights, creating a broader impact. Besides, her estimated net worth is already among the highest for musicians worldwide. Now that the singer-songwriter has full control over the masters, her net worth will likely see further growth. The post Taylor Swift Buys Back Her Music By Paying Millions — Report appeared first on Reality Tea.
Forbes
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Taylor Swift's ‘Reputation' Finally Reaches The Top 10
Consumption of Taylor Swift's albums exploded recently, after in late May, the singer-songwriter revealed that she had purchased the master rights to her first six albums. That deal officially ended a years-long feud with Scooter Braun and Ithaca Holdings, which had purchased them away from her years ago, prompting her to begin releasing Taylor's Versions of her projects. This latest move puts Swift back in control of the music that made her a household name. Following the exciting development, millions of fans rushed to buy and stream her catalog once again. Much of the focus was on Reputation, a set many had expected would be next in her re-recordings series. While an updated version of the 2017 project may never materialize, fans continue to celebrate the original — and this week, they've pushed it to new heights. This frame, Reputation lands at No. 10 on Billboard's Top Streaming Albums chart, breaking into the loftiest tier for the very first time. The full-length effort reaches the top 10 more than a year and a half after it first returned to the tally in October 2023, and 43 weeks into its current run. As Reputation climbs, Swift now claims five top 10 wins on the Top Streaming Albums chart. That's exactly half of the 10 sets she's pushed onto the list. The tally includes two No. 1s, The Tortured Poets Department and 1989 (Taylor's Version), both of which led for multiple frames. In addition to returning to the Top Streaming Albums chart, Reputation also reenters both the Top Album Sales and Vinyl Albums rankings. In both cases, it can now be found inside the top 10 once more. Purchases of the project grew by nearly 1,200% compared to the previous period, following Swift's greenlight for fans to once again buy Reputation. For years, many had avoided doing so, as sales would have financially benefited the former rights holders — a group Swift was not part of and did not support. On the Billboard 200 — the only chart where Reputation doesn't need to reappear — the album manages a huge leap from No. 78 to No. 5. This marks its three-hundred-and-fiftieth frame on the tally, and it lands higher than it's appeared in many years.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Taylor Swift now owns all of her music outright. What does that mean for ‘Reputation (Taylor's Version)'?
Taylor Swift now owns all of her own music, after years of fighting to gain ownership of her entire catalog. She shared a letter on her website explaining that she was able to purchase the rights to all of her music, music videos and concert films. 'To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,' she wrote. '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." Swift knew that fans would especially care about her sixth album and wonder what was happening with the 'Taylor's Version' of the album. So she addressed in the letter what will happen next with the two albums that she hasn't released rerecorded versions of yet — 'Reputation (Taylor's Version)' and her debut album. '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.' She also explained that she hasn't finished rerecording 'Reputation (Taylor's Version)' and might not finish it. She did say she would likely still release the unreleased 'Vault' tracks from that album. 'I know, I know. What about Rep TV? Full transparency. I haven't even re-recorded a quarter of it,' Swift wrote. 'The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it. 'All that defiance, that longing to understood while feeling purposely misunderstood, that desperate hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief. To be perfectly honest, it's the one album in those first 6 that I thought couldn't be improved upon by redoing it. Not the music, or 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.' In 2019, Swift expressed frustrations about not being able to gain ownership of her entire music catalog after a dispute with Big Machine records. She left Big Machine records in 2018 for a deal with Universal Music Group's Republic Records. The next year, Big Machine and the label's founder Scott Borchetta sold her masters to Ithaca Holdings. In a Tumblr post, she shared her anger about the deal, saying that she has 'pleaded for a chance' to buy her own work for years but was instead 'given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and 'earn' one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in,' according to Time magazine. The music artist rejected the offer, and also condemned the sale of her masters to Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings. In response to Swift's Tumblr post, Borchetta wrote on Big Machine's website, 'Taylor had every chance in the world to own not just her master recordings, but every video, photograph, everything associated to her career. She chose to leave.' In 2020, investment firm Shamrock Capital acquired the rights to Swift's original six albums. She said in a social media post that she found out about the sale after receiving a letter from Shamrock Holdings 'letting us know they had bought 100% of my music, videos, and album art from Scooter Braun. This was the second time my music had been sold without my knowledge.' On Friday, she announced that she was able to purchase the entire library and rights from Shamrock Capital to now own all of her own music. Shortly after announcing her frustrations about not being able to gain ownership of her music in 2019, Swift announced plans to rerecord her first six albums and release them for her fans. Here are the albums that she rerecorded: 'Fearless (Taylor's Version),' April 9, 2021 'Red (Taylor's Version),' Nov. 12, 2021 'Speak Now (Taylor's Version),' July 7, 2023 '1989 (Taylor's Version),' Oct. 27, 2023 She expressed pride in being a part of the conversation in music ownership. 'I'm extremely heartened by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry among artists and fans,' she wrote. '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.'
Business Journals
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Journals
How a pop star's actions stirred a master class in copyright law
You may have heard that Taylor Swift recently purchased the rights to her master sound recordings from her first six albums for a reported $350 million dollars. This has led many people to wonder, why would she have to buy the rights to her own music and how did she do it? The answer involves a mix of copyright law, contract law, determination, savvy business and a dedicated fan base. The story begins with a 15-year-old Taylor Swift signing a music contract with Big Machine Records (BMR) and releasing her first album, 'Taylor Swift' in 2006. As a part of her music contract, BMR financed the production of her first six albums and received ownership of the master recordings that formed each of those albums. By receiving ownership in the master recordings, BMR, through the exclusive rights granted to copyright owners in Section 106 of U.S. Copyright Law, was able to control how the recordings were distributed, licensed and monetized. Swift also agreed to not re-record her music for a period of time. Importantly, ownership of the master recordings is separate from the ownership of the musical work, which, according to copyright law, vests in the composer or creator. Because Swift wrote or co-wrote the vast majority of the songs on these albums, she held substantial 'composer' rights. Over the course of these six albums, Swift became one of the most popular and best-selling recording artists of all time. Things began to get really interesting in November of 2018 when Taylor Swift's contract with BMR expired and she left and signed with Universal Music Group's Republic Records. As a part of that deal, she negotiated for her ownership of all of her future master recordings recorded for Republic Records. At the same time, she alleges that she was trying to purchase her master recordings from BMR. In June of 2019, BMR was sold to Ithaca Holdings for a reported $330 million dollars. Ithaca Holdings was controlled by music executive Scooter Braun. Because BMR owned Swift's master recordings from her first six albums, Ithaca Holdings became the new owner of the rights to these recordings. Swift was not happy with the sale as she was trying to purchase her recordings at the same time. This ignited a public feud that was so newsworthy, it led to its own docuseries on Max called 'Taylor Swift vs Scooter Braun: Bad Blood.' Swift publicly asserted that BMR and Braun had bullied her and presented her with unreasonable demands as it related to the potential sale of the master recordings back to her. Additionally, she alleged that they had refused to allow music from any of her first six albums to be used in a Netflix documentary about Swift or to be performed at the 2019 American Music Awards where she was honored as Artist of the Decade. Ithaca and Braun denied these allegations. In response to the feud, on July 13, 2019, Kelly Clarkson tweeted, 'just a thought, U should go in & re-record all the songs that U don't own the masters on exactly how you did them but put brand new art and some kind of incentive so fans will no longer buy the old versions. I'd buy all of the new versions just to prove a point.' Later Clarkson would credit Reba McEntire with inspiring the tweet, as McEntire had re-recorded some of her songs years earlier. In August of 2019, Swift announced that she was going to do exactly that and plans for the re-recording began. In the meantime, Ithaca Holdings sold Swift's master recordings to Shamrock Capitol for between $300 and $450 million dollars in November of 2020. This second sale further infuriated Swift who allegedly was still trying to buy the rights. In April of 2021, after her contractual obligation to not rerecord her music had passed, Swift released 'Fearless (Taylor's Version).' This was followed by 'Red (Taylor's Version)' in November of 2021, 'Speak Now (Taylor's Version)' in July of 2023 and '1989 (Taylor's Version)' in October of 2023. Shamrock Holdings could still sell the original versions, but the demand for these plummeted. Instead, everyone wanted to buy, use and license the new versions, which were entirely controlled by Swift as the owner of both the composer rights and the master recording rights. However, she didn't own the rights to all of her music until she purchased them, together with full ownership of unreleased songs, album art, concert films, photography and music videos last month for a reported $350 million dollars. Because of Swift's actions, artists (and their agents and managers) should have a better understanding of what they might be giving up when they enter into a recording contract. Conversely, companies that have musician contracts are already trying to extend the period of time where an artist cannot re-record their music in order to avoid this situation. To say this was a master class in business would be an understatement. Swift capitalized on copyright law, contract law and her fan base to get exactly what she had been pursuing for years. In her own words, 'All of the music I've ever made…now belongs…to me.'
Buzz Feed
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Scooter Braun Thought Taylor Swift Would Work With Him
It's no secret that Taylor Swift has long considered Scooter Braun her 'nemesis,' with Scooter being Kanye West's manager during the rapper's infamous 2016 beef with the singer. If you need reminding, the feud resulted in Taylor being branded a 'snake' across social media and led to her retreating from the public eye for almost an entire year. At the peak of her downfall, Justin Bieber even posted a screenshot from a FaceTime call with laughing Scooter and Kanye to his Instagram page alongside the goading caption: 'Taylor swift what up." So, it's pretty unsurprising that when Taylor's former manager Scott Borchetta sold his record label, Big Machine Records, to Scooter's company, Ithaca Holdings, for $300 million back in 2019, Taylor wasn't exactly happy about it. For reference, this deal meant that Scooter would profit from the sales and use of all of the music that Taylor released through Big Machine during her 10-year contract with them, which included her first six albums. Taylor addressed the situation in a lengthy Tumblr post at the time, where she said that she didn't sign a new contract with Big Machine because she knew that Scott was planning to sell. She also revealed that she rejected a new contract even though it offered her the opportunity to 'earn' the rights to one old album for every new one she released. Taylor then said that Scott selling to Scooter was her 'worst case scenario' as she called out the 'incessant, manipulative bullying' she'd received at Scooter's hands over the years. Taylor added that Scooter had 'stripped' her of her life's work that she 'wasn't given the opportunity to buy.' 'When I left my masters in Scott's hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter,' she wrote in the post. 'Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words 'Scooter Braun' escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to.' Scooter has previously admitted that when he acquired Big Machine he assumed that he would 'be in business' with all of the artists that it covered, saying during an appearance on NPR's The Limit podcast: 'The regret I have there is that I made the assumption that everyone, once the deal was done, was going to have a conversation with me, see my intent, see my character and say, 'Great, let's be in business together.' I made that assumption with people that I didn't know." "I didn't appreciate how that all went down. I thought it was unfair," he added at the time. "But I also understand, from the other side, they probably felt it was unfair, too." And in a new interview for Steven Bartlett's Diary of a CEO podcast, Scooter opened up some more about Taylor specifically as he admitted that he thought she would be enthusiastic about working with him despite his connections to Kanye and Justin. 'When I bought Big Machine, I thought I was going to work with all the artists on [it]. I thought it was going to be an exciting thing,' Scooter began. 'Taylor, she and I had only met three or four times. And one of the times, years earlier, it was really a great engagement; she invited me to her private party, she respected me.' 'In between that time since I'd seen her last, I started managing Kanye West, I managed Justin Bieber. I knew she didn't get along with them,' he continued. 'This is where my arrogance came in — I had a feeling she probably didn't like me cause I managed them, but I thought that once this announcement happened, she would talk to me, see who I am, and we would work together.' Scooter told Steven that he was set to call Taylor to discuss their future when her Tumblr post went live, leaving him 'shocked.'However, he also insisted that the experience gave him a newfound empathy for the people he does work with, saying: 'I'd always say: 'Yeah, I understand', but I never knew what it was like to be on the global stage like that.'"I never knew what criticism like that felt like,' Scooter continued. 'And like I told you, the biggest gift that I got from that was understanding that all the praise I had received up until that moment was not deserved, and all the hate I got after that moment was not deserved, because none of these people knew me. She didn't know me." As it happens, Scooter ended up selling Taylor's catalog, including all associated videos and artwork, to Shamrock Holdings for more than $300 million in October 2020, just over a year after he bought Big Machine. The following month, Taylor issued a statement revealing that her and Scooter's respective teams had been in negotiations for her to regain ownership of the masters, but she backed out when his team allegedly asked her to sign an 'ironclad NDA' stating that she would never say another word about Scooter 'unless it was positive.' Taylor went on to say that she was 'open' to partner with Shamrock when they initially reached out to her, but was left dismayed when she learned that the terms of Scooter's sale meant that his company would continue to profit from her work. 'As soon as we started communication with Shamrock, I learned that under their terms Scooter Braun will continue to profit off my old musical catalog for many years,' she wrote. 'I was hopeful and open to the possibility of a partnership with Shamrock, but Scooter's participation is a non-starter for me.'As you probably know, this entire mess led to Taylor rerecording her first six albums — complete with brand new tracks 'from the vault' — in order to have ownership of her music. And Taylor only had her self-titled debut and 2016 album Reputation left to re-release when she announced at the end of last month that she'd bought the rights to the original master recordings from Shamrock for a reported $360 million. What do you make of Scooter's expectation to work with Taylor? Let me know in the comments below!
