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Taylor Swift recently told fans that she repurchased the rights to her masters. In 2019, the ownership of her first six albums transferred to Scooter Braun after he purchased Big Machine Records, Swift’s former label. She publicly denounced the sale, and later re-recorded her old albums. After she repurchased her masters, some have accused her of scamming her fans. They’ve pushed back against this claim.
A TikTok user said Taylor Swift ‘scammed’ her fans
A TikTok user posted a video entitled “Big Ole Scam (Taylor’s Version).” In it, she said Swift passed on opportunities to take ownership of her masters and then “made a huge deal” out of re-recording her masters.
She believed Swift was “so busy devaluing the masters and then buying them back” that she didn’t have time to complete the re-recording of Reputation. She addressed fans, saying that they’d been scammed into giving Swift more money.
“It worked out perfectly for her because you guys bought multiple albums,” she told fans. “You bought two of the same exact album. Probably more than two versions of the same exact album.”
Taylor Swift’s fans have defended her against this claim
While a number of people agreed with the original poster, the comments on the video are full of people defending Swift. Some people rolled their eyes at the idea that the singer forced anyone to buy the re-releases.
“Taylor Swift didn’t force me to buy anything,” one person wrote. “I love her, I love collecting. What’s different about that than my bf collecting Pokémon cards or sports memorabilia?”
“I BUY what I WANT. And I STREAM what I want to stream,” wrote another person. “She doesn’t make me do anything. I choose what I do, and if me buying Taylor’s version vinyls, merch and tickets helped her making money to buy her masters, I’m glad. But I bought them because I wanted them. And I believe that’s how it is for many Swifties (and others).”
People also said they had no problem with the fact that Swift devalued her original records.
“My girl was incredibly savvy, fully aware of her strategy, and I back her completely,” wrote one person. “She tactfully devalued her own masters to reclaim her success, nothing wrong with that!”
Most people said they were happy to do anything to help Swift.
“Not a scam!!” wrote one person. “It was our pleasure!!!!”
She wrote a letter to fans about repurchasing her masters
Because her fans have been very invested in the ownership of her masters, when Swift repurchased them, she wrote a letter to her supporters.
“I’ve been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out that this is really happening,” she wrote in a letter on her website. “I really get to say these words: All of the music I’ve ever made … now belongs … to me.”
She thanked her fans for their support.
“To my fans, you know how important this has been to me — so much so that I meticulously re-recorded and released four of my albums, calling them Taylor’s Version,” she wrote. “The passionate support you showed those albums and the success story you turned The Eras Tour into is why I was able to buy back my music. I 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.”
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