Taylor Swift Scooter Braun Feud: How The Entrepreneur Gained Rights To Her Back Catalogue Of Songs
1 July 2019, 10:26 | Updated: 1 July 2019, 14:17
Taylor Swift is “sad” and “grossed out” after Scooter Braun acquired her back catalogue of records.
‘You Need To Calm Down’ singer Taylor Swift shared a lengthy statement on Tumblr on Sunday night, claiming she has been a victim of “manipulative bullying” by Scooter Braun – who is the manager of Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande – for years.
WATCH: How Taylor Swift & Katy Perry Became BFFs Again After Seven Year Feud
Her allegations came amid the news Scooter is purchasing her masters in part of a $300m (£237m) deal to acquire record label Big Machine Records, whom Taylor signed with in 2005 before moving to Universal Music Group in November 2018. Big Machine was founded by Scott Borchetta.
Taking to Tumblr, Taylor wrote: “I learned about Scooter Braun’s purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world. All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years.
“Like when Kim Kardashian orchestrated an illegally recorded snippet of a phone call to be leaked and then Scooter got his two clients together to bully me online about it. (See photo) Or when his client, Kanye West, organised a revenge porn music video which strips my body naked.
“Now Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.”
Scooter has so far stayed silent on Taylor’s allegations, but retweeted a message yesterday which read: “Everyone has a story. Context is everything.”
However, his wife Yael Cohen Braun, has spoken out to defend her husband, claiming Taylor was given the opportunity to own her masters but passed. She wrote in an Instagram upload: “He believes in and supports you, I sincerely hope you can learn to love and believe in yourself the way my husband does.”
Big Machine CEO Scott Borchetta has since addressed Taylor’s claims, saying he texted Taylor on Saturday night so he could hear the news of the purchase directly from him.
In a post shared on Big Machine records, he said: “100% of all Taylor Swift assets were to be transferred to her immediately upon signing the new agreement. We were working together on a new type of deal for our new streaming world that was not necessarily tied to ‘albums’ but more of a length of time… Taylor had every chance in the world to own not just her master recordings, but every video, photograph, everything associated to her career. She chose to leave.”
A number of celebrities have since weighed in on the very public fallout, with Justin Bieber defending Scooter while Cara Delevingne is one of many stars who has sided with the ‘Me!’ singer.
> Download Our App For All The Latest Music News
