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Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and cultural impact, Swift is one of the world's best-selling artists, the highest-grossing performer, the richest female musician, and the first billionaire with music as the main income.
Swift signed to Big Machine Records in 2005, debuting as a country singer with the albums Taylor Swift (2006) and Fearless (2008). The singles "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Love Story", and "You Belong with Me" found crossover success on country and pop radio formats. She incorporated rock on Speak Now (2010) and electronic on Red (2012), later re-calibrating her image from country to pop with the synth-pop set 1989 (2014); the ensuing media scrutiny inspired the hip-hop-imbued Reputation (2017). The albums contained the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", "Bad Blood", and "Look What You Made Me Do".
In June 2019, a controversial dispute emerged between the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and her former record label, Big Machine Records, its founder Scott Borchetta, and its new owner Scooter Braun over the ownership of the masters of her first six studio albums. The private equity firm Shamrock Holdings acquired the masters in 2020, whereupon Swift re-recorded and released four of the albums from 2021 to 2023 to exert control over her music catalog. The dispute drew widespread media coverage and provoked discourse in the entertainment industry. Ultimately, Swift acquired the masters from Shamrock in 2025.
In November 2018, Swift signed a record deal with Republic Records after her Big Machine contract expired. Mainstream media reported in June 2019 that Braun purchased Big Machine from Borchetta for $330 million, funded by various private equity firms. Braun had become the owner of all of the masters, music videos, and artworks copyrighted by Big Machine, including those of Swift's first six studio albums. In response, Swift stated she had tried to purchase the masters but Big Machine had offered unfavorable conditions, and she knew the label would sell them to someone else but did not expect Braun as the buyer, alleging him to be an "incessant, manipulative bully". Borchetta claimed that Swift declined an opportunity to purchase the masters.
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