Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’ Re-Record Expected to Hurt Sales of Original as Star Reclaims Music 

Taylor Swift’s latest re-recorded album 1989 (Taylor’s Version) comes out Friday. Critics say the album could be the most successful re-record yet, given the smashing success of the original 1989 album, which marked Swift’s definitive move from country to pop in 2014. 

But its success could come at a cost to the investment firm that owns the master recordings to her old music. And that's kind of the point.

Swift began releasing re-recordings of her old albums in 2021 in reaction to the sale of her old record label Big Machine to celebrity manager Scooter Braun. The sale, which included ownership of Swift's music catalogue up to that point, meant Braun had the rights to master recordings of her old songs and was paid licensing fees when TV shows and movies use her music. 

Swift expressed her devastation over the deal in a Tumblr post in 2019, “When I left my masters in [Big Machine owner Scott Borschetta's] hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter,” she wrote. "Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words 'Scooter Braun' escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to."

Swift began openly planning to re-record her old songs in the summer of 2019 so that she would own the rights to the masters and people wouldn't buy the old album, something she was encouraged to do by Kelly Clarkson and supported by fans and the industry (example: iHeartRadio committed to replacing all of Swift's previous albums with the singer's re-recorded versions).

Clarkson — who doesn't take credit for Swift's move ("She’s brilliant, she would’ve come up with that on her own, and she maybe already had before I even tweeted it," she said earlier this year) — got the idea from Reba McIntyre, who faced a similar issue to Swift and re-cut old albums so she could own her own masters.

Swift’s plan has clearly worked. Every time Swift re-records her old albums, sales of the originals suffer, according to data obtained by The New York Times. For example, the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) immediately drove down sales of the original Speak Now album by nearly 60%. Speak Now has fallen off the charts, while the newer version is currently No. 18. Swift also makes more money on her music per her deal with Republic Records, owned by Universal Music Group, which she joined in 2018, and she owns the rights to all her masters.

By the time Swift began releasing her re-records, Braun had sold the rights to Taylor’s old music to an investment fund, Shamrock Capital.

The re-records she’s released so far include Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version) and Fearless (Taylor’s Version). Her newest album, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) will include several previously unreleased tracks titled "Say Don't Go," "Now That We Don't Talk," "Suburban Legends," "Is It Over Now" and "Slut!"

Swift told fans this summer that 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is her "most FAVORITE re-record [she’s] ever done." She'll continue to let the charts do the rest of the talking.