Scooter Braun flips Taylor Swift’s masters to Shamrock Capital
Music mogul Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings has reportedly sold the master rights to Taylor Swift’s first six albums, less than two years since it purchased them.
The buyer is said to be an “unknown” investment fund, according to Variety, who reports that the deal is believed to over US$300 million and closed in the last two weeks.
Since the report by Variety overnight, Swift has tweeted a response, which names the purchaser as Shamrock Holdings – who, she alleges, reached out to her in a bid to make peace.
That effort, according to Swift, stalled due to the terms of the agreement that allow Ithaca to continue receiving royalties from her masters – which proved “a non-starter” for the singer.
Swift also revealed that she not only still intends to re-record songs released under Big Machine but that she has already begun the “exciting and creatively fulfilling” process.
Ithaca Holdings acquired the now-former label behind the superstar musician in 2019, the Nashville-based Big Machine Label Group, for about $330 million.
The label was founded by Scott Borchetta in 2005, and guided Swift to global stardom. The singer left the Big Machine in 2018 and signed with Universal Music Group.
When news of the deal brokered between Braun and Borchetta hit the headlines, Swift said she was unaware that the recordings were about to end up in the hands of venture capitalists.
Been getting a lot of questions about the recent sale of my old masters. I hope this clears things up. pic.twitter.com/sscKXp2ibD
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) November 16, 2020
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In a Tumblr post, Swift said she was “sad and grossed out” by the sale which sees Braun’s Ithaca Holdings take on the rights to Swift’s entire catalogue, up to and including the Reputation album.
“When I left my masters in Scott’s hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually, he would sell them,” Swift said, adding she learned of the sale in the media.
“Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter,” she continued, who Swift alleges is responsible for “incessant, manipulative bullying” towards her.
Borchetta claimed to have texted Swift ahead of the deal being announced, Swift claimed that Braun had banned her from performing songs until November and Braun said the bad vibes were all a “miscommunication” and revealed his family had received death threats from Swift fans.
As reported by TMN this month, the singer-songwriter is now legally free to follow up on her threat to re-record her first five albums. They range from 2006’s self-titled Taylor Swift to 2014’s 1989.