How did Taylor Swift lose her music? Inside the battle to own her tracks again
12 December 2025, 10:36 | Updated: 12 December 2025, 10:45
Taylor Swift revealed her ultimate victory in getting her own music back again in May 2025 but how did she do it? Here's everything you need to know about her quest to regain control of her songs.
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Taylor Swift revealed her biggest music victory in May 2025 as she announced she fully owned the rights to all of her albums after a very long and complicated battle with her previous record companies.
Being open and honest about the whole ordeal, 'The Fate of Ophelia' singer made it her mission to have her life's work under her name and has spent six years trying to do just that.
In May, Taylor confirmed her dreams had come true when she wrote on her official website: "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."
- Read more: Taylor Swift reveals how she chose which albums to re-record first
- Read more: Taylor Swift reveals her favourite Taylor Swift songs
So how did Taylor Swift lose control of her original masters in the first place? And exactly how did she get it back again? Here are all the important details.
How did Taylor Swift lose the rights to her music?
When Taylor was just 14 years old, she signed her first music contract with Big Machine. The record deal paid her a cash advance in exchange for having ownership of her original recordings (this meant they could do what they liked with her music) for her first six albums.
This wasn't an unusual deal in the early 2000s and was the way many record labels operated.
Taylor's deal with Big Machine ended in 2018 when she swapped record labels and went over to Republic Records and the Universal Music Group.
The battle began when Big Machine's boss sold his label, including the rights to Taylor's songs, to Scooter Braun's label, Ithaca Holdings, without notifying her. At the time Taylor said it "stripped me of my life's work".
Unable to make a counter offer to regain her rights, this is where the on-going feud between Taylor and Scooter began. She told Billboard: "I spent 10 years of my life trying rigorously to purchase my masters outright and was then denied that opportunity."
Taylor's masters were then sold for a second time to Shamrock Holdings in 2020, again without her knowledge or consent.
Why did Taylor Swift re-record her albums and do Taylor's Version?
In an attempt to gain back control of her recordings, Taylor started re-releasing her old albums in her 'Taylor's Version' series. This effectively made the originals less valuable and meant she had some control over her lyrics and music going forward.
She made those albums extra appealing to fans by adding on new bonus tracks and the process led to her famous Eras Tour which made a staggering £1.4billion in ticket sales.
How did Taylor Swift get her music back?
Appearing on fiancé Travis Kelce's podcast, New Heights, Taylor revealed she sent her mum and brother to negotiate the deal which led to her obtaining the rights to her music again.
Following the success of the Eras Tour, Taylor and her team tried one more time to obtain the rights from Shamrock Holdings. Due to the personal nature of what this meant to her, she was hoping her two family members could be the ones that sealed the deal.
She said: "I want it because these [are] my handwritten diary entries from my whole life. These are the songs I wrote about every phase of my life. This is my photography, my music videos, most of which I funded. My artwork, everything that I’ve ever done, is in this catalogue."
Months after the meeting, the company agreed to give Taylor back full rights to her music for an undisclosed nine figure sum.
How much did Taylor Swift pay to have her master recordings back?
The exact figure of how much she paid to acquire her original recordings and rights is not known.
What we do know is that in 2020, when her catalogue of music was previously sold, it was bought for £222million.
There were reports Taylor paid around $600million to a $1billion to reclaim the rights but the BBC has reported that would be inaccurately high.
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