“One of the individuals who is encouraging this deal to take place is Scooter”: Could Taylor Swift finally be about to take ownership of her first six album’s master recordings?

Is Taylor Swift about to be given the opportunity to finally own the rights to her own early recordings?

That’s the enticing prospect being dangled in gossip concerning the star and insiders close to her long-running arch nemesis Scooter Braun who – after acquiring her work from under her nose – could be helping her get it back.

By now you know the story. A 15-year-old Taylor Swift signed her first record deal with Big Machine Records back in 2005 with both minor label and prospective star hoping that the enterprise might earn them a buck or two.

Instead, Swift would become one of the world’s biggest recording artists with the rights to the recordings of her first six albums, the property of Big Machine, worth millions.

Thus, perhaps catching an otherwise busy (or perhaps, at the time, commercially naive) Swift by surprise, when Big Machine decided to cash out and put Swift’s rights up for sale, the deal was done before she knew it.

The new owner of Swift's life’s work? None other than music entrepreneur (and the man formerly best-known as Justin Bieber’s manager) Scooter Braun, in a deal that cost him an estimated $300 million in 2019.

However, rather than hang onto his bounty (or as Swift and her fans requested, sell it to its ‘real’ owner) Braun instead flipped them to Shamrock Capital just a year later for $405 million, slipping out of the picture and earning a healthy profit.

Once again, Swift had been blindsided but would soon hatch her revenge.

Look What You Made Me Do

In 2021 Swift began systematically re-recording and re-releasing the work that she’d ‘lost’, effectively replacing the original. i.e. Each time you listen to a Taylor’s Version rather than the original, she gets paid instead of Shamrock… It was a highly involved and time-consuming process that any other, less persistent (and less wronged) star would have baulked at, but Swift’s effortful move effectively makes Braun’s (and subsequently Shamrock’s) multi-million dollar investment worthless and Swift’s revenge sweet.

And, up until now, that looked like the way it would always be. Swift owns the Taylor's Version with fans actively avoiding the originals like the plague.

However, now, according to Page Six, Shamrock are seeking a new buyer for their investment, with none other than Scooter Braun rumoured to be encouraging them to do the right thing and get Swift in on the deal.

“Interestingly enough, one of the individuals who is encouraging this deal to take place is Scooter, who was at the center of the deal the first time around alongside Big Machine,” a source told the outlet.

Be under no illusion. This isn’t charity. Shamrock won’t be handing over the rights to Swift but will be seeking to sell them for – doubtless – a huge profit.

In fact, Page Six goes so far as to guesstimate that the cost to Swift to finally own her six albums – Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 and Reputation – could now run as high as $600 million, earning Shamrock $200 million… That said, a hefty payout is all that Swift has ever wanted, being inexplicably denied the chance to pay for and own her work by both Big Machine and Braun.

We Are Never Getting Back Together

But will Swift still want to buy them?

Interestingly, her own Taylor’s Version project now places the true value of her original recordings in question. Are they really worth that much, given that she’s already ‘replaced’ four of them (at the time of writing Swift is yet to release a Taylor’s Version of debut album Taylor Swift, and her final Big Machine recording, Reputation)?

Also, there’s the small matter that the purchase would now render her Taylor’s Version project (producing arguably inferior versions of her classics – discuss) a frustrating waste of the past four years.

That said, it's undeniable that the existence of these re-recordings has placed pressure on the ongoing true value of Shamrock’s holdings and most likely played a part in their now-rumoured sale.

Ultimately, given the level of energy she’s so far exerted and the public outrage she’s expressed at her loss, it’s hard to imagine Swift not seeking to strike some kind of deal to bury this nightmare once and for all.

For now though, it looks that Swift’s re-record/replace side project is alive and well. Earlier this week her Look What You Made Me Do from Reputation appeared on the soundtrack of long-running hit TV show The Handmaid’s Tale in a new, previously unheard (and as yet unreleased) Taylor’s Version form.

As to whether Reputation (Taylor’s Version) will ever see the light of day, or if she can simply take possession of the original remains to be seen.