Reputation Taylor's Version will come bundled with a new release of The Tortured Poets Department. It will be the only way to buy or listen to the album.

He just couldn't stay away.

Okay this is either an elaborate mock-up or an actual leak? I love the cover and hope it's real

If it is the actual cover... love it too!

Alright, this is Taylor's first Tweet since November.
Taylor GOT HER MASTERS BACK!!!!

She put up a big letter about it. She then gets to talking about Rep TV and says she still hasn't finished a quarter of the album's tracks and that she doesn't think it can be improved upon, but gives hope that she will release the Vault tracks. She also says she has fully re-recorded Debut, but doesn't feel like putting it out yet.

Anyway, great news for her. I'm happy for her, even if we don't get Rep TV.

X - Formerly Twitter

Here's Taylor's letter.

Every Single Album host Nathan Hubbard summarizes how Taylor played this saga to perfection. She made this happen.

X - Formerly Twitter

That's fantastic news! Very happy for her!

Here's the letter... well... was the letter but got ninja'd by Decker.

Yeah I've gone out of my way not to listen to the versions that put money in the wrong pockets. Just added TS and Reputation to my Apple Music library. I know what I'm listening to in the morning driving to see my Dad.

They left out the last step. The masters were bought by a hedge fund. By law they would have to divest them after 5-7 years (depending on for the fund was set up) so they were always going up for sale. She was probably the highest (or only) bidder. Good for her.

I never spent any money on the originals during these last few years, but I also never invested in TV. I don't stream music that I already own, and I'm not putting money in anyone's pocket by listening to it.

Wonderful article about Taylor getting her masters back, and why it's a big deal for all artists and not just Taylor, from Rob Sheffield at Rolling Stone :

That article is a bit over the top and Sheffield knows better. The rights have been contentious but she’s not really a trailblazer or unique. It’s just in the public more than past battles and amicable deals. Anyone that follows the music business knows of the past. Swift just brought the practice into the general public because of her broad, dedicated, invested and at times unhinged fan base. Even Prince couldn’t do that three decades before. People then didn’t care. Paul McCartney had the same thing and would have gotten the rights to the Beatles earlier if Micheal Jackson hadn’t outbid him. U2’s manager used the record labels money problems to negotiate lower royalties for ownership. David Bowe created bonds to fund his purchase of his back catalog. Beyoncé, Rihanna, Mariah Carey, the Jonas Brothers, Jay-Z, Metallica, LL Cool J, Stevie Wonder the list goes on and on. The drama over Swift and Scooter and her fan base just made this a bigger deal than most but she’s not a trailblazer. As a course of business it’s pretty rote. Boring even. Most labels will return them as part of a deal. They just couldn’t do it here. The only reason they were on the market today was because of the private equity and the rules around it. One of the few major record companies won’t touch them because of the drama. The PE people had a limited pool of people to flip the right too. She did successfully devalue them but that amount the only unique thing here. If the relationship with the label wasn’t contentious it would have been over years ago but the. The business built around the situation won’t have been possible.

I mean good for her. She has her originals back plus was able to milk her fanbase into buying her albums a second time by doing the Taylor’s Versions of most of her back catalogue. I don’t always like her approach to the way she takes advantage of her fanbase (and they let it happen as well), but can’t argue she’s successful at it.

I'm sure the TV albums sold pretty well (especially1989 TV), but it wasn't really about new album sales. It was a tacit agreement between her and her fans that they'd stream and listen to the new recordings instead of the original ones the fans fell in love with. It's kind of remarkable that it worked, but it did. Her back catalog became less valuable, even as her fame rose because her fans were in on the plan and to a degree cooperated with it. She also sought out all sorts of (non-commercial) music licensing agreements to use her new Taylor Version recordings of her hits in TV shows (The Summer I Turned Pretty, The Bear, The Handmaid's Tale) and Movies (It Ends With Us, Spirit Untamed). That also helped decrease the value of the masters, even as she became.more popular.

And if there were still any question as to whether the fans were really in on the plan to stop, or at least limit, streaming of her original six albums while she didn't own the masters, the iTunes charts yesterday put that theory to rest.

I mean.. let’s be real. The Taylor’s Versions were marketed a bit as poor little old me, I’m being robbed of my catalogue so support these new versions. Oh, and I’m going to make a bunch of variants of each one you can buy, plus a bunch of tie-in merchandise. She’s smart at what she does, but I feel like she knows how to milk her base.

Why all this chatter about Taylor Swift?

I heard that from a guy who runs a taco truck that She's not popular anymore.

And that's coming from a real grifter with his own cult.

the takeaway here is that TTPD is a dud, right? I mean… last place?!? Yikes!

The real takeaway is that she can claim #1 with an 8 year old album on the same day that two superstars (Morgan Wallen and Miley Cyrus) dropped new albums! And not because of some new exposure or released hit song, just because she owns the master now, so they can stream without feeling at all conflicted. That is a loyal fan base!
Later in the day Debut had moved to #2 as well.

That whole album sounds like throwaways from Midnights. It's not bad but not as good either. The four most recent are 41 or higher.

how dare you.

I'm already on record with that take. Also with the take that the second "disc" is better than the first.

Per the New York Post, she paid $360 million to buy it all back from Shamrock whatever. Good for her. But when I think about all the artists who got ripped off in the past and never made the kind of $ to be able to do this and died penniless, it breaks my heart.

Her fanbase is rabid (gullible) enough that she was able to re-release all of her albums and people gobbled them up. I don’t recall another artist doing like she did with catalogue material.

Smart on her behalf but again seems like she takes advantage of her fans and is a bit shameless in doing whatever it takes to make money all while putting on the, poor little innocent me persona.

My wife likes her so by extension I like some of her stuff to an extent, but she’s kind of rubbed me the wrong way for a while if I’m honest.