00:00Taylor Swift buys back her master recordings.
00:02All of the music I've ever made now belongs to me, said the star, announcing the news on her official website.
00:09I've been bursting into tears of joy ever since I found out this is really happening.
00:14The piece saga began in June 2019, when music manager Scooter Braun bought Swift's former record label Big Machine and,
00:21with it, all of the songs from Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, and Reputation.
00:28Swift had personal objections to the deal, blaming Braun for complicity in the incessant manipulative bullying against her by Kanye West, one of his clients.
00:39On her website, Swift said that reclaiming the rights to her music had, for a long time, seemed unimaginable.
00:47To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it, she added, thanking fans for their support.
00:54As the drama played out,
00:55I can't thank you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but have never owned until now.
01:03I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen.
01:05After 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away, she wrote.
01:10But that's all in the past now.
01:12In the music industry, the owner of a master recording controls the way it is distributed and licensed.
01:17The artist still earns royalties, but controlling the master's offers protection over how the work
01:23is used in future reputation, Taylor's version, delayed.
01:27Swift responded to the original sale of her master's by vowing to re-record those records,
01:32effectively diminishing the value of those master tapes, and putting ownership back in her hands.
01:37To date, she has released four re-recorded albums, known as Taylor's Versions, with dozens of bonus tracks and supplementary material.
01:47In her letter, the star told fans she had yet to complete the project,
01:51after hitting a stopping point while trying to remake 2017's Reputation album,
01:57which dealt with public scrutiny of her private life and the fallout of her feud with Kanye West.
02:01The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life, she explained.
02:08All that defiance, that longing to be understood while feeling purposefully misunderstood.
02:12To be perfectly honest, it's the one album in those first six that I thought couldn't be improved by redoing it.
02:18So I kept putting it off.
02:21Last week, the star previewed the new version of Reputation's first single,
02:25Look What You Made Me Do, in an episode of The Handmaid's Tale.
02:28But her letter suggested that a full re-recording would be delayed or even scrapped.
02:34However, she promised that vault tracks from the record would be released at a future date,
02:38if fans were into the idea.
02:41She also confirmed that she had re-recorded her self-titled debut, adding,
02:46I really love how it sounds now.
02:48Those two albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, she added.
02:53But if it happens, it won't be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have.
02:58It will just be a celebration now.
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