She wasn’t exactly hurting for cash, but Taylor Swift is about to get even richer.
A lot richer.
In the wake of the superstar singer regaining ownership of her entire music catalog, Newsweek spoke to music industry experts about the potential financial windfall Taylor may see as a result.
At the end of May, Taylor Swift posted a long, emotional letter on her website announcing her victory in a battle that stretches back twenty years. She told fans that she is once again in control of her music catalog after a public ownership feud with music executive Scooter Braun.
Braun sold the rights to Swift’s first six albums to Shamrock Capitol despite the singer’s attempts to buy them back herself. That led to Swift re-recording her albums one by one and rereleasing them subtitled “Taylor’s Version.”
Executive Director of the Sony Audio Institute for Music Business and Technology, Larry Miller, told the outlet, “Ownership of the six masters will undoubtedly improve Taylor’s take-home pay. 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.”
Taylor Swift Was Already a Billionaire
Taylor Swift’s record-breaking “Eras” tour skyrocketed the singer into billionaire status, with Forbes last year writing, “The 34-year-old pop star amassed an estimated $1.1 billion fortune, based on earnings from the blockbuster tour, the value of her music catalog and her real estate portfolio.”
The Eras Tour, which ran from March 2023 to December 2024 became the highest grossing concert tour in history, bringing in approximately $2 Billion according to Newsweek. That’s more than double the previous record-holder, which was Elton John’s five-year-long “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour, which brought in $939 million.
In fact, in her letter to fans, Swift herself credits the money made on the tour with enabling her to buy her music catalog back.
Sources told Billboard that Shamrock Capital sold Swift’s catalog to her for around $360 million.
Experts Say Music Catalog May Be More Valuable In Swift’s Hands
Music industry experts say who owns Swift’s music makes a big difference in how much it’s worth.
Larry Miller elaborates, “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.”
An Associate Professor of Music Theory at the University of Oregon, Drew Nobile, tells Newsweek, “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?”
Nobile says Swift’s loyal fans “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.”
In fact, Nobile says in the two weeks since Swift made her announcement, she’s likely already recouped a chunk of the money she spent on her catalog. “Any time there’s a big Taylor Swift news story, a lot of money moves around. She’s a one-woman economic force. So I’ll bet data will show a spike in streams of her older albums right after this deal was announced.”
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Former ‘Voice’ Mentor Taylor Swift Is About to Get Richer