Taylor Swift buys back her master recordings

Honestly, Taylor spun a savvy PR tale. She wasn’t exactly “wronged”—this was standard music industry business. She signed a contract at 15, got the fame and resources of a major label, and her masters went with it. That’s how the industry works.

She didn’t lose her masters; she never owned them to begin with. What she did was weaponize fan loyalty and spin a narrative of injustice to pressure and profit—and it worked brilliantly. She re-recorded everything and made millions more. Good for her as a businesswoman, but let’s not pretend this was some David vs. Goliath story. It was a power move, not a moral one.

If I commission a painter to create a piece—fund the tools, studio time, and pay him—I own the painting. If I later sell it for 10x what I paid, he’s not owed anything. That’s how ownership works. Same with a record label: they fund the artist’s work, take the risk, and they own the masters. They can sell that catalog to whoever they want. That’s not theft, it’s business.

Her music incredibly boring. And if she didn't date famous people (some real, some PR stunts) she wouldn't have a career.

Scooter Braun didn’t steal anything.

He legally acquired Big Machine Label Group, which owned Taylor’s masters. He bought the company — like buying a building and everything inside. It’s standard business practice, not a personal attack.

But Taylor framed it as a betrayal. She claimed she wasn’t given the chance to buy her masters — but Big Machine says she was, multiple times, with options to re-earn them over time or buy them outright. Her version of events was curated for maximum outrage.

And because Scooter is a powerful male industry figure and already controversial (thanks to his beef with other artists), she painted him as the villain — the big bad man stealing from the innocent girl. It worked. Her fans went wild. Death threats were sent. It became emotional — not factual.

Cry more, Magats.

R2 Taylor is unapologetically a white girl making white girl music for other white girls — and for people who love that culture. That sound has been largely absent from pop since the 2000s, when hip-hop, R&B, and dance — Black and gay culture — took over the charts.

She’s this generation’s hairbrush music. Think Sheryl Crow, Natalie Imbruglia, Sixpence None the Richer’s “Kiss Me” — but unlike them, Taylor has no competition in that lane, which is why she’s still dominating.

As I’ve always said: she’s what Madonna would be if every album was True Blue.

She plays it safe, stays in her lane, and as long as no one else fills that gap, she’ll keep going.

Taylor Swift has always followed her audience — not led it.

She started in country because it was the safest entry point for young white girls whose parents didn’t let them listen to “racy” Top 40 radio. Country was family-friendly, and Taylor played the part perfectly.

But once those little girls started growing up — and when Adele’s 21 blew up and basically ended the Gaga era — Taylor saw the opening. She made her pop crossover right on cue. She didn’t reinvent the wheel — she just grew up alongside her fans and stayed a few inches ahead of the trends they were already leaning toward.

She’s not a musical pioneer. She’s a mirror. A smart one. And that’s why she’s lasted.

Other women explored, evolved, and sometimes alienated casual fans in the process. Taylor never did. She stuck to the middle lane being emotional, accessible, never too controversial and scooped up every fan who didn’t want to be challenged.

She wins not by being revolutionary, but by being a constant in a pop landscape that keeps shifting.

Shes like the iPhone.

And just like with iPhones, people keep “upgrading” to each new Taylor era not because it’s wildly different but because it’s the latest version. The cultural default. You want to stay current? You get the new one, even if it’s just repackaged comfort.

And that IPhone analogy doesn’t just describe her, it describes today’s society. Franchise films, reboots and remakes everywhere. In today’s hyper-saturated media landscape, most people don’t want to be challenged and they want something comforting, something predictable.

This is a day I never dared dream might come to pass

Our long national nightmare is over

r6 Her parasocial relationship with fans is another key factor to her success. Thanks to her approach to social media, her fans think they know her... and that she cares about them.

Alas, this is way too much fuss over bad art.

It'd have been helpful to other artists to disclose how much she paid. So of course she didn't.

Taylor has been a manufactured product from day one. And her father is... well, something else. Read this if you're not familiar. A seven page e-mail from 2005 that shows what her dad is really like:

R12 She’s created this mythology that she’s a one-woman songwriting genius and writes everything.

She’s a pop Carole King or Joni Mitchell.

A full blown songwriter doesn’t need Max Martin or Jack Antoff.

She’s no different from any other pop star who writes lyrics and all the behind the scenes songwriting process of her songs are most likely 100% staged.

People like Max Martin and Jack Antoff and Liz Smith (in the early days) aren’t sitting there doing nothing. They’re most likely writing the music and melody and she writes the lyrics.

She didn't fill huge stadiums of people paying thousands of dollars per seat without being talented, stop hating.

To assume she can't write songs because she is a female is dumb, she is creating the songs and then working with producers to finalize what she created. You make not like her or connect with the songs, but millions of people do.

So all the Swifties bought 1874 variants of the same albums for nothing?

Taylor is what you get if you ask AI “I’m a billionaire, have a ok looking fit white teenage daughter, and want to make her happen. What do I do?”

The Swiftards bought the Taylor's Versions of some of her previous albums to support her against evil Scooter Braun, hoping that she would release more in the future. But now she doesn't need to. Those dumbasses got played big time.

This thread is why I'll miss the DL when I (finally) leave for good.

Here are astute, perceptive observations on the nature of Swift's stardom that have satisfied my curiosity on explaining her stardom.

[quote] She didn't fill huge stadiums of people paying thousands of dollars per seat without being talented, stop hating.

Oh, please, r14.

I don't "hate" Swift and I'm not picking up that those who have posted here do, either.

I've often observed that her stardom is truly a thing to behold, to be respected even if I personally find her work product inexplicable for its appeal.

True story. One day, I eye witnessed the powerful tractor beam that holds Swift's fans.

During a commercial break at Lambeau Field during a GB Packers game, the sound system was playing a catchy pop tune I'd never heard it before.

Amazed, I looked around. Every White female, up and down my bleachers section and those surrounding us were, word-for-word, in unison, singing that song at the top of their lungs.

I even spotted a couple of Black women singing along too, with what I'm guessing now to be ironically amused grins on their faces.

Then it dawned on me. "Is this a Taylor Swift song?" I asked the young guy next to me, and he said, "Yup".

I can't deny that was an impressive sight, the closest I'll ever get to seeing the storied "Swiftie" in the wild.

It might be standard industry practice today but Barbra Streisand actually owns all her master tapes and has full creative control. Not saying didn’t Taylor spin a web of lies, but artists of yesteryear didn’t get shafted as much by the music industry.

Good for her, seriously

R14 Who said cause she was a female? Especially since I used females as examples.

This is why you can’t take TS fans seriously they’re always about victimhood like her.

Congrats to TS and her horrible music

R19 Barbra’s contract was unique because Columbia didn’t think she was going to be as big as she was. If they thought she was going to be a massive hit, creative control and owning her masters wouldn’t have been in the contract.

She has to be the Blandest pop singer ever. I like how she preaches, be kind, but its astoundinbg to me how much she's loved.

I applaud this - Scooter Braun sounded like the biggest slimiest creep.