Taylor Swift’s net worth is about to change now that the pop star has ownership of her entire music catalog, experts tell Newsweek.
In a letter shared via her website on May 30, Swift announced that she had bought back the rights to the original recordings of her first six albums: Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, and Reputation. Following a dispute with her former record label, Big Machine Records, the “Cruel Summer” singer began rerecording her early songs, adding “Taylor’s Version” to each title.
In 2019, Scooter Braun acquired Big Machine through his company Ithaca Holdings. As part of the deal, the record executive obtained the masters to Swift’s first six albums, which he later sold to Shamrock Holdings.
Now, however, in addition to the original recordings, Swift owns all of her music videos, album art, photography, unreleased songs, and concert films.
“To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,” Swift said in her letter. “All I’ve ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to one day purchase my music outright with no strings attached, no partnership, with full autonomy.”
What Is Taylor Swift’s Net Worth?
Swift was named a billionaire by Forbes in October 2023, and her current net worth is $1.6 billion. The publication reported that a significant portion of her income is from music royalties and touring.
Last year, the 14-time Grammy Award winner wrapped up her record-breaking Eras Tour, which became the highest-grossing concert tour in history. The tour ran from March 2023 to December 2024, raking in approximately $2 billion.
Per Billboard, which cited anonymous sources, the “Fortnight” singer paid approximately $360 million for the rights to all of her music. Despite the reported hefty price tag, experts tell Newsweek her income will increase.
“Ownership of the six masters will undoubtedly improve Taylor’s take-home pay,” New York University professor Larry Miller, who is also the executive director of the Sony Audio Institute for Music Business and Technology and is the director of the Music Business Program, told Newsweek. “Under Braun’s and Shamrock’s ownership, Taylor declined requests to license the original masters for film and TV. Now they’ll be licensed, and the old, much-loved masters will generate revenue for the rest of her life—and beyond.”
He added: “Taylor has a powerful, trusted relationship with hundreds of millions of fans, and she can reignite interest in those six albums in a way that no other artist, company or investor can.”
“Swift’s music catalog generates over $100 million per year from streaming alone, and of course, that will increase now that Swift owns the rights to her earlier recordings as well. The question is, how long it will take for her to recoup the reported amount of $360 million she paid for those rights,” Drew Nobile, an associate professor of Music Theory at the University of Oregon, shared.
He added that Swifties—the affectionate term for Swift’s fandom—who previously avoided listening to her original recordings, “might now feel they can freely listen to the older versions, which would further increase those recordings’ values.”
“So it might be the case that the original recordings are worth more when owned by Swift than they would be in anyone else’s hands,” he said.
“This masters ownership opens up entirely new revenue streams for Taylor,” Tatiana Cirisano, vice president of Music Strategy at MIDiA Research, told Newsweek. “She will absolutely see her take-home income increase, although I can’t currently speculate by how much.”
Joe Bennett, a forensic musicologist and professor at Berklee College of Music, echoed similar sentiments.
“Reacquiring the masters will almost certainly increase her income, and may well repay the reported $360 million investment,” he said.
Swift May Already Be Seeing the Benefits
It’s been just over two weeks since Swift announced her news, and Nobile said it’s likely she’s already “recapturing a good chunk of her investment.”
“Any time there’s a big Taylor Swift news story, a lot of money moves around. She’s a one-woman economic force,” Nobile told Newsweek. “So I’ll bet data will show a spike in streams of her older albums right after this deal was announced.”
Cirisano said: “Fans who were not streaming the original versions of her first six albums in solidarity can do so now, and this is already leading to a streaming boost.”
Looking at the Bigger Picture
Bennett said that while Swift’s purchase has financial benefits, “the bigger picture is symbolic and artistic.”
“Swift has always played the long game, fully aware that every business decision is examined in detail by fans, the media, and the wider industry,” he said. “So this is as much about artistic legacy and control as it is about net worth—and it sets a precedent for the artist/label relationship, in an age when it’s easier than ever for artists at all levels to create and own high-quality master sound recordings.”
Jocelyn Neal, a professor of Music and adjunct professor of American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, agreed.
“Swift’s acquisition of her original albums’ masters is more significant for her than what can be measured by financial gain,” Neal told Newsweek.
“For her and her fans, the principle of her owning her own creations is what matters. For her whole career, she has talked about her music as the result of her own sweat and hard work, a perspective she repeated in the letter she posted. So while she stands to profit financially from this deal, the moral victory she and her fans feel is worth more to her brand in the long run,” Neal said.
Cirisano noted that it’s “unusual for the music industry” for an artist’s “name, image, and likeness rights” to be “in the same place.” As such, this gives Swift “ample flexibility when it comes to opportunities like licensing her music for films, games, etc.”
“The world is officially her oyster, even more than it was already—I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Taylor Swift theme park someday,” Cirisano said.
Read the full article here
