Taylor Swift Shares How She Spent Her Eras Tour Money

Karma is a relaxing thought for Taylor Swift.

After years of wanting to control her own music, Taylor Swift finally achieved her biggest goal with the success of her record-breaking Eras Tour: owning the original recordings of her songs.

Taylor Swift revealed on The Stephen Colbert Show on December 10th that she used the money earned from her Eras Tour to regain ownership of her music, explaining, “My fans are the reason I was able to do that.”

Taylor Swift, whose Eras Tour generated over $2 billion in ticket sales according to The New York Times, announced in May that she had successfully repurchased the rights to her master recordings. These recordings had been sold in 2020 to Shamrock Capital from Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings for a reported $300 million, covering her first six albums. Swift described the moment as exceeding her “greatest dream come true” in a post on her website.

Taylor explained that her biggest goal was to fully own her master recordings by working hard enough to buy them outright, without any obligations or needing to share ownership. She expressed deep gratitude to Shamrock Capital for being the first to offer her this opportunity.

2025 was an incredible year for Taylor Swift, going beyond just achieving her biggest ambitions. The success of the Eras Tour allowed her to regain ownership of her music, and also brought a major personal milestone: her engagement to Travis Kelce in August. Their relationship began in 2023 when Kelce playfully admitted he’d been disappointed to miss meeting her during her concert in Kansas City.

She told Stephen Colbert that getting engaged to her partner and regaining control of her music were two things she never thought would happen. She expressed immense gratitude that both had come to pass, saying they weren’t simply a matter of time, but possibilities that could have easily never materialized.

The Eras Tour wasn’t just a huge experience for Taylor Swift—it deeply affected her fans as well. From the tradition of trading friendship bracelets to stories of fans being so overwhelmed with happiness they felt disoriented, the tour had an impact that surprised even Taylor herself.

Taylor said they noticed a huge amount of interest in the tour, but initially thought it was simply because she hadn’t toured in five albums. She didn’t fully grasp the scale of the excitement until she started hearing stories from people who had actually attended the shows.

Taylor deliberately created a specific atmosphere and concert experience as she began her sixth headlining tour.

She explained that she’s always been fascinated by the power of storytelling. She wondered how to truly move an audience, not just entertain them, but help them forget their worries and escape into another world. She wanted to know how to create that feeling of complete immersion.

But, Taylor noted that creating that space was really only possible because of the fans themselves.

She explained that the tour’s success was all thanks to the fans’ connection with their music. “Thank you all so much,” she said.

For more of Taylor, read on…if you’re ready for it.