Taylor Swift still gets emotional when she thinks about the moment she reclaimed her master recordings after years of working to do so, as evidenced by her appearance on Travis Kelce‘s New Heights podcast.

In the episode posted Wednesday (Aug. 13), the pop star teared up while recalling how she collapsed into her boyfriend’s arms after receiving the news, which the world would only learn in May when Swift announced that she’d purchased the rights to her first six albums from Shamrock Holdings in a letter on her website. It was a big moment for both the star and her fanbase, as the 14-time Grammy winner had been vocal about her devastation with the initial sale of her masters to Scooter Braun in 2019 — which she said “ripped my heart out of my chest” on New Heights — shortly after which it changed hands again to Shamrock.

“Since I was a teenager, I’ve been saving up money to buy my music back,” she recalled on the podcast as the tight end rubbed her hand affectionately. “I thought about not owning my music every day … it was like an intrusive thought.”

According to Swift, it wasn’t members of her team who negotiated the deal with Shamrock — it was her mom, Andrea, and her brother, Austin. Andrea was also the one who broke the news that they’d closed the deal with the investment company in an emotional phone call with her daughter.

“She was like, ‘You got your music,’ and I literally hit the floor,” Swift said. “Bawling my eyes out, just weeping.”

At first unable to believe that the news was real, the 14-time Grammy winner says she eventually went into another room, where Kelce was obliviously playing video games. “I’m like, ‘Just go tell Travis in a normal way,'” she said, cracking up at the memory of how her voice broke as soon as she started speaking to the Kansas City Chiefs star, despite trying to keep her composure.

Swift added that her boyfriend immediately ditched his console and wrapped her in his arms, at which point she started “absolutely heaving.”

Kelce admitted that he was also “weeping” in the moment, noting that his superstar girlfriend was “just dead weight” in his arms.

Elsewhere on the podcast, Swift shared more details about her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, which she announced Tuesday (Aug. 12) via a teaser clip from her guest New Heights episode. Arriving Oct. 3, the LP will mark her first full-length since reclaiming her masters three months ago.

Though fans are hopeful that they’ll still get a re-release for Swift’s debut album — and possibly even Vault tracks for the never-finished Reputation (Taylor’s Version) — the purchase of her masters also marked something of an end to her yearslong re-recording project. Over the past six years, the musician has released revamped versions of Fearless, Speak Now, Red and 1989, which Swift said on New Heights was a process she “defiantly” decided to embark on.

While re-recording her albums, Swift said on New Heights that she was able to fall back in love with one of them. “Red was very special,” she said, noting that Vault track “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” is “maybe my favorite song I’ve ever written.”

“I’ve always loved Fearless and 1989 in a very pure way,” she added. “Red I’ve always gone back and forth … but the re-record really made me love that album.”

Watch Swift’s episode of New Heights below.

Surges in concerts and merchandise led JYP Entertainment’s revenue to jump 126% to 215.8 billion KRW ($157 million) in the second quarter, the K-pop company announced on Wednesday (Aug. 13).

With operating expenses held in check, operating profit rose 466% to 52.9 billion KRW ($39 million) and net profit skyrocketed more than 2,700% to 36.2 billion KRW ($26 million). 

Concert revenue rose 342% to a record high of 62.0 billion KRW ($45 million), helping soften the blow of the 26% drop in the first quarter. Stray Kids performed 23 concerts in the quarter, including 12 in the U.S. and two in Mexico, which completed the group’s record-breaking 54-show world tour. DAY6 commemorated its 10th anniversary by completing its third world tour, performing 16 concerts in six countries, including six shows in South Korea, in the quarter. Xdinary Heroes had eight concerts and NEXZ hosted seven performances. 

Merchandise revenue of 66.9 billion KRW ($49 million), also a quarterly record, was up 356% due to concert sales and global IP licensing collaborations (including Stray Kids with Tamagotchi and TWICE with Sanrio’s Japanese pop-up). 

Physical album sales jumped 100% to 27.1 billion KRW ($20 million) on the strength of a Japanese release by Stray Kids and new albums by iTZY, NEXZ and KickFlip. Streaming revenue fell 10% to 11.5 billion KRW ($8 million). 

Appearance revenue rose 22.1% to a record 9.7 billion KRW ($7 million), and advertising revenue improved 22% to 11.3 billion KRW ($8 million).

South Korea took the biggest slice of the revenue pie, accounting for 36% of JYP’s total revenue, down from 41% in the prior-year period. Japan and China accounted for 21% and 2%, respectively. The rest of the world generated 41% of the company’s second-quarter revenue, up from 31% a year earlier. 

The music subscription business will continue to grow through 2026 thanks to customer acquisition, price increases and the launch of high-priced superfan tiers, according to a new report by Guggenheim analysts who cover public music companies.

A wave of price increases in 2022 and 2023 subsided in 2024, leading to lower — but still substantial — revenue growth rates in 2025. Recently announced quarterly results have showed “healthy industry-wide trends” despite “minimal” benefits from price increases, analysts wrote in the report released Wednesday (Aug. 13). Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group both reported solid subscription revenue growth of 8.5% for the quarter, while Sony Music (which does not break out subscription figures) saw streaming growth of 7.3%.

Guggenheim estimates that the number of streaming subscribers grew 11.6% in the second quarter, which compares well to the previous five quarters (which ranged from 12.0% to 12.8%). Analysts say Spotify and YouTube Music had the best growth, while Amazon Music, Apple Music and Tencent Music Entertainment (TME), as well as smaller services such as Pandora and Deezer, had below-average growth.  

Looking ahead, Guggenheim sees ample potential subscribers in both mature and developed markets. Its analysts expect subscriber growth to remain in the double digits through the end of 2025 — 11.1% and 10.1% in the third and fourth quarters, respectively — and “gradually decelerate over time.”

While global growth rates remain in the double digits, subscriber and revenue growth have slowed in large markets such as the U.S., where subscription revenue growth fell to 5.3% in 2024 from 10.6% in 2023, and growth in subscribers fell to 3.3% from 5.7%, according to the RIAA. A similar trend was seen in the U.K., the world’s third-largest recorded music market, where subscription revenue growth fell to 5.9% in 2024 from 8.1% in 2023, according to BPI. 

Recent and upcoming price increases will provide revenue growth for streaming services and rights holders. The analysts say fourth quarter revenue will get an assist from Spotify’s decision, announced on Aug. 4, to raise prices in “multiple markets” across Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. Guggenheim and many other analysts expect subscription revenue growth in 2026 to come from subscription service price increases following record labels’ recent licensing renewals.  

While Guggenheim expects much-awaited superfan tiers to launch in 2026, only one subscription service, TME, has launched one to date, with the Chinese streaming leader revealing on Monday (Aug. 11) that it had 15 million subscribers to its Super VIP tier at the end of June. Spotify chief business officer Alex Norström explained during the streamer’s July 29 earnings call that the company is building “something great” for superfans, “but it’s taking time” to produce something up to Spotify’s “high value standards.”    

Superfan offerings, which will provide heightened experiences and features for a higher price, are expected to boost streaming services’ average revenue per user (ARPU) and return additional royalties to rights holders. Super VIP is having the expected effect on TME’s ARPU, which increased 9.3% on 6.3% subscriber growth in the second quarter. Without a superfan tier to provide a lift, Spotify’s ARPU increased 3% (in constant currency) with 12% subscriber growth.