In June 2019, Scooter Braun’s holding company, Ithaca Holdings, acquired Big Machine Label Group from founder Scott Borchetta in a deal that transferred control of the master recordings of Taylor Swift’s first six studio albums, including the recordings associated with Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, Reputation, and her self-titled debut. Borchetta remained Big Machine’s chief executive and received a minority interest and board seat in Ithaca, but Swift publicly condemned the transaction because she had not obtained ownership of the masters during her time with the label. She characterized the sale as the latest chapter in a long-running struggle over artists’ rights and accused Braun of gaining control over recordings that represented years of her work. Braun, who had previously managed artists including Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, became a conspicuous symbol of the music industry’s power imbalance in the dispute, particularly because Swift and Braun had already been associated with a highly publicized professional and personal-management rivalry.
The conflict escalated when Ithaca sold the Big Machine master catalog to Shamrock Holdings in 2020 for a reported $405 million, with Ithaca reportedly earning approximately $265 million. Swift objected to the continuing ownership transfer and announced that she would re-record her earlier albums, a strategy designed to make the original versions less valuable by redirecting listeners, licensing opportunities, and commercial attention toward newly recorded editions. The resulting Taylor’s Version campaign turned a private catalog transaction into an international debate over music contracts, master ownership, artist leverage, and the financial power of private-equity-style acquisitions in entertainment. The dispute ultimately continued for years, with the ownership battle reaching a resolution in 2025 when Swift regained control of her catalog, closing one of the most consequential artist-versus-executive feuds in modern popular music.
