Pop superstar Taylor Swift has announced she has successfully bought back the rights to her entire back catalog of music, ending a years-long dispute over the ownership of her early work. Swift, who has been publicly advocating for artists’ rights since 2019, shared the news on her website Friday, May 30, describing it as a “greatest dream come true.”

“All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me,” Swift wrote in a letter to her fans. This monumental acquisition includes her first six albums, which she has been meticulously re-recording and releasing as “Taylor’s Version” albums in recent years to regain control over her musical creations. So far, she has released four re-recorded albums: Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version) in 2021, and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) in 2023.

Swift reacquired her master recordings from Shamrock Capital, a Los Angeles investment firm, for an undisclosed amount. This move follows a highly publicized feud that began in 2019 when industry mogul Scooter Braun’s company purchased her former label, Big Machine Records, thereby gaining a majority stake in her early work. Braun later sold these master rights to the private equity company.

The situation left Swift “publicly incensed,” as she stated in 2019, “I just feel that artists should own their work.” Her decision to re-record her albums was an unprecedented power move in the music industry, highlighting the critical importance of master recordings – the original source material that dictates how songs are reproduced and sold. While other artists like Prince, George Michael, Jay-Z, and Kanye West have also fought for control of their masters, none had gone to the extent of completely re-recording them.

The “queen of pop,” whose record-shattering, nearly two-year-long Eras tour concluded last year, expressed that she was “heartened by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry.” The hugely successful tour, which grossed an estimated $2 billion, will undoubtedly have helped offset the costs of buying back her catalog.

Swift concluded her letter by noting the broader impact of her fight: “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 this to happen.”