Taylor Swift vs. the Music Industry

In June 2019, Taylor Swift discovered that her former label Big Machine Records had been acquired by Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings — including the masters to her first six albums. She found out the same day as the public. She called it her "worst case scenario." Braun declined to sell the masters back to her. Swift began re-recording her catalog in 2021, releasing "Fearless (Taylor's Version)" and "Red (Taylor's Version)" — both of which went to number one. By 2023, the re-recordings had become the canonical versions, effectively making the originals commercially obsolete. Braun quietly sold the masters in 2020, reportedly at a loss.