taylor swift re record

On June 30, 2019, the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift entered into a dispute with her former record label, Big Machine Records, its founder Scott Borchetta, and its new owner Scooter Braun, over the ownership of the masters of her first six studio albums. It was a highly publicized dispute drawing widespread media coverage and led Swift to release the re-recorded albums—Fearless (Taylor's Version), Red (Taylor's Version), Speak Now (Taylor's Version), and 1989 (Taylor's Version)—from 2021 through 2023 to gain complete ownership of her music. In November 2018, Swift signed a record deal with Republic Records after her Big Machine contract expired. Mainstream media reported in June 2019 that Braun purchased Big Machine from Borchetta for $330 million, funded by various private equity firms. Braun had become the owner of all of the masters, music videos, and artworks copyrighted by Big Machine, including those of Swift's first six studio albums. In response, Swift claimed she had tried to purchase the masters but Big Machine had offered unfavorable conditions, and she knew the label would sell them to someone else but did not expect Braun as the buyer, alleging him to be an "incessant, manipulative bully". Borchetta claimed that Swift "had every chance in the world to own not just her master recordings, but every video, photograph, everything associated to her career," apparently referring to an offer to hand over these assets on the condition she sign on for a renewed contract period.