What Every Indie Artist Can Learn from Taylor Swift’s Masterstroke
If you can be as creative and disciplined in business as you are in music, you will survive and thrive as a true creative professional.
Whatever you think of her music, you have to respect Taylor Swift as a creative professional.
Last week she pulled off something no one thought was possible.
Back in 2005, Swift signed a six-album deal with Big Machine Records when she was just 15. The deal gave the label ownership of the master recordings for all six albums.
When her contract ended in 2018, she walked—signing with Universal instead. And that’s when things got messy.
She wasn’t even given the chance to bid on her own recordings. Big Machine’s founder Scott Borchetta sold the masters to Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings. Braun then sold them to Shamrock Capital for a reported $300–$405 million.
That’s when Taylor did something no one saw coming.
Instead of rolling over, she got to work.
She didn’t just fight back—she rewrote the rulebook.
She decided to re-record every single album—one at a time.
She called them “Taylor’s Version.”
It was such an unexpected move that it wasn’t even prohibited in her original contract. No one had anticipated this kind of play.
That’s what made it so brilliant.
And she followed through. Creative solution. Relentless execution.
Fearless (Taylor’s Version) tripled the units of the original.
Red (Taylor’s Version) outsold the original by a factor of 10.
As of May 2025, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) had 4.87 million equivalent album units—and it was still gaining ground on the original, despite a nine-year head start .
Her fans didn’t just support her. They made it a mission to only stream and purchase the re-recorded versions. She transformed heartbreak into loyalty—and loyalty into leverage.
But there was still a sense of loss. Swift described the moment she lost her masters as her “worst case scenario” and said Braun had “stripped me of my life’s work” .
And then, last Friday, came the twist ending no one predicted:
Taylor Swift bought back her masters. All of them.
Her first six albums—including the music videos, concert films, album art, and unreleased tracks—now belong to her.
In her letter to fans, she wrote:
“All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me.”
It’s the kind of poetic justice you usually only get in movies.
Let’s pause here.
At a time when most artists are selling their catalogs—Bruce Springsteen ($500M), Bob Dylan (reportedly $300–400M), Katy Perry, Justin Bieber—Swift went the other way.
She didn’t sell. She doubled down.
And now? She owns:
Her original recordings
Her re-recorded Taylor’s Versions
The goodwill of a fan base that helped her win the fight
This is the rarest kind of victory in the creative industries:
A personal win
A financial win
A cultural win
It’s not just about Taylor Swift. It’s about what’s possible when artists stop thinking of business as something separate from creativity.
So here’s the takeaway for you:
Don’t check your creativity at the door when you walk into the business world.
Use it there, too.
The same inventiveness, precision, and stubborn excellence that makes you good at your art?
That’s your advantage in business.
Be like Taylor.
Creativity.
Discipline.
In your music.
In your business.
If you can be as creative and disciplined in business as you are in music, you will survive and thrive as a true creative professional.
