🎤 Taylor Swift's masters: sold for $330M, resold, bought back

Braun's 2019 deal was later put at $330M and the 2020 Shamrock resale at over $300M. What Swift paid to reclaim them in 2025 is undisclosed. 🔒

By , editor at large · Desk editor Gustavs Ērkšķis-Kreicbergs · · 4 min read

Taylor SwiftRECLAIMEDPhoto: iHeartRadioCA · CC BY 3.0

Photo: iHeartRadioCA, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Desaturated and cropped by MrScandal.

What we know

  • In June 2019, Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings bought Big Machine Label Group, and Taylor Swift's first six masters with it; news reports at the time put the price around $300 million, and Music Business Worldwide later reported it was $330 million.
  • Braun sold those masters to Shamrock Holdings in October 2020, in a deal reported at more than $300 million.
  • Swift re-recorded four of the six albums as "Taylor's Version" between 2021 and 2023 after declining Shamrock's offer of an equity partnership.
  • In May 2025, Swift announced she had purchased all the masters from Shamrock; the purchase price has not been disclosed.
  • Variety reported the 2020 resale was viewed as a win for Braun, who recouped close to what his firm had paid for all of Big Machine by selling Swift's masters alone.

In June 2019, Scooter Braun's holding company Ithaca Holdings bought Taylor Swift's old record label, Big Machine, in a deal news outlets reported at around $300 million and Music Business Worldwide later put at $330 million, taking ownership of the master recordings behind her first six albums. About a year and a half later, Braun sold those same masters to the investment firm Shamrock Holdings in a deal reported at more than $300 million. Swift spent the next five years re-recording her catalog rather than buy it back on Shamrock's terms - until, in May 2025, she did exactly that.

The sale that started it

01

Big Machine signs the teenage Swift, keeps the masters

In 2005, Swift signed a 13-year deal with Scott Borchetta's new label, Big Machine Records, which took ownership of the masters to her first six albums. She kept the publishing rights - the songwriting itself - a detail that mattered a decade later.

See the receipt (opens in a new tab)
02

Her contract expires, she signs elsewhere

Swift's Big Machine deal expired in November 2018. She signed with Republic Records, part of Universal Music Group, on a deal that let her own the masters to everything she released from then on.

See the receipt (opens in a new tab)
03

Braun's Ithaca Holdings buys Big Machine for a reported $330 million

News media reported in June 2019 that Braun's Ithaca Holdings had bought Big Machine Label Group, financed in part by the Carlyle Group, for a figure reported around $300 million; Music Business Worldwide reported in 2023 that the agreed price was $330 million - $300 million for the label plus $30 million for its publishing arm, with Swift's six-album catalog valued at $140 million. Swift said she had pleaded for years for a chance to own her work, but the only path offered required her to re-sign with Big Machine and earn the albums back one at a time.

See the receipt (opens in a new tab)

"the incessant, manipulative bullying I've received at his hands for years"

Taylor Swift, in a Tumblr post responding to the sale, June 30, 2019
04

Big Machine and Borchetta dispute her account

Borchetta published a blog post, "So, It's Time For Some Truth," saying Swift had every chance to own her recordings and chose to leave. Swift's attorney, Donald Passman, said in a statement that Borchetta "never gave Taylor Swift an opportunity to purchase her masters, or the label, outright with a check in the way he is now apparently doing for others."

See the receipt (opens in a new tab)

The flip

05

Braun sells the masters on to Shamrock

In October 2020, Braun sold the masters, along with the music videos and album art, to Shamrock Holdings, an investment firm founded by Roy E. Disney, a nephew of Walt Disney, in a deal reported at more than $300 million. Swift said that when her team tried to buy the catalog from Braun, his team required her to sign a non-disclosure agreement barring her from ever again saying anything negative about him before she could even see Big Machine's books, which she refused; she separately declined Shamrock's offer to make her an equity partner after learning Braun would keep profiting from her old catalog.

See the receipt (opens in a new tab)

"We made this investment because we believe in the immense value and opportunity that comes with her work. We fully respect and support her decision and, while we hoped to formally partner, we also knew this was a possible outcome that we considered."

Shamrock Holdings, in a statement after Swift declined the partnership offer
06

Swift's camp says the label still owes her money

In November 2019, Swift's publicist Tree Paine said an independent, professional auditor had determined that Big Machine owed Swift $7.9 million in unpaid royalties over several years. Big Machine had said Swift "admitted to contractually owing millions of dollars and multiple assets" to the label, which Paine denied.

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The re-recording, and what it cost the old masters

07

Four "Taylor's Version" albums, 2021 to 2023

Swift re-recorded Fearless, Red, Speak Now and 1989 between 2021 and 2023, each built to pull streams and licensing toward the versions she controlled and away from the originals she no longer owned - leaving only Reputation and her debut undone.

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08

The quick resale is called a win for Braun

Variety reported that the 2020 resale was viewed as a big win for Braun, who had profited handsomely: he sold Swift's masters alone for roughly what his firm had paid 17 months earlier for the whole of Big Machine. The sale came before Swift's re-recordings began eating into the value of the catalog Shamrock now held.

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_The win was banked before Swift's re-recordings turned the catalog she no longer owned into a depreciating asset._

Braun's own exit

09

Ithaca itself is sold to Hybe

In April 2021, separate from the masters, Braun sold Ithaca Holdings - the company that had bought Big Machine - to the South Korean entertainment company Hybe in a deal valued at more than $1 billion. Braun joined Hybe's board, and the Carlyle Group sold off its minority stake in Ithaca as part of the transaction.

See the receipt (opens in a new tab)

The buyback

10

Swift buys all the masters back from Shamrock

On May 30, 2025, Swift announced in a letter to fans that she had purchased the masters to her first six albums, along with the music videos, concert films, artwork and other related material, from Shamrock. She said the deal gave her "full autonomy," but the purchase price has not been disclosed, described only as an undisclosed nine-figure sum.

See the receipt (opens in a new tab)

Six years after the sale she had called her worst-case scenario, Swift owns the masters outright - the one outcome none of the deals in between had allowed her.

By the numbers

  • 5y 11mfrom first to latest entry on recordJun 2019 to May 2025, 3 dated entries in the file
  • 8receipts behind this story7 news reports, 1 original post, 2019 to 2025

Counted by MrScandal from the receipts, the Files and our rankings.

The Taylor Swift file

Last entry May 30, 2025
  1. Reported

    Taylor Swift's letter to fans announcing she bought her first six albums' masters from Shamrock, reported by Variety, May 30, 2025 This story

  2. Reported

    Shamrock Holdings' statement responding to Swift, issued November 2020 (she declined the partnership that October) This story

  3. Reported

    Music Business Worldwide report on the joint announcement that Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings had acquired Big Machine Label Group, June 30, 2019 This story

On file: The Taylor Swift file

The Ledger

On the record

  • Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings bought Big Machine in June 2019, and Swift's first six masters with it - a deal Music Business Worldwide reported at $330 million - then sold those masters to Shamrock Holdings in October 2020 in a deal reported at more than $300 million.
  • Swift re-recorded four albums as "Taylor's Version" between 2021 and 2023, then bought all the masters from Shamrock in May 2025.
  • Variety reported the resale as a win for Braun, who recouped close to his firm's whole Big Machine outlay by selling Swift's masters alone.

Still rumour

  • What Swift paid Shamrock in 2025 - the figure is described only as an undisclosed nine-figure sum.
  • Borchetta posted texts he said passed between him and Swift around the sale; Rolling Stone said it could not confirm the text's authenticity.

That's the record. The rest is rumour. - Mr Scandal

Next on the docket

More Celebrity

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