“My Worst Case Scenario”: Taylor Swift Is Devastated Her Masters Have Been Sold To Scooter Braun
"All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years."
Taylor Swift has taken to tumblr to express her anger over her masters being sold to Scooter Braun, who she says has ‘incessantly bullied’ her for years.
Swift’s masters are owned by Big Machine Records, the Universal-distributed company she parted ways with in 2018 after her 12-year contract lapsed. In a lengthy post, Swift says she “pleaded for a chance” to own her own work, but instead, at the end of her contract, was offered a resign with the right to earn back an album for each new one released.
“I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, [Big Machine Records’ CEO] Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future,” she wrote. “I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past. Music I wrote on my bedroom floor and videos I dreamed up and paid for from the money I earned playing in bars, then clubs, then arenas, then stadiums.”
In the post, she mentions she learnt of Scooter Braun’s purchase as news broke online.
“Some fun facts about today’s news: I learned about Scooter Braun’s purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world,” she wrote. “All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years.”
Billboard report that as her father owns four percent of Big Machine, her team would have been made aware via a shareholders meeting held on June 25 — still, this is only a few days ago. Braun is the manager of several huge pop-stars, including Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jepsen and, previously, Kanye West.
In her post, she then insinuates her public feuds with West and Kim Kardashian-West were co-signed, if not prompted, by Braun.
At the top of her post, Swift included an Instagram by Bieber of him face-timing West and Braun after a snipped of a phone call between her and West was leaked by Kardashian-West. On it, she wrote, “This is Scooter Braun, bullying me on social media when I was at my lowest point. He’s about to own all the music I’ve ever made.”
“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.”
“This is my worst case scenario. This is what happens when you sign a deal at fifteen to someone for whom the term ‘loyalty’ is clearly just a contractual concept. And when that man says ‘Music has value’, he means its value is beholden to men who had no part in creating it. ”
Swift then says “never in in my worst nightmares” did she think her masters would be sold to Braun, and that the choice was pointed.
“Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words ‘Scooter Braun’ escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to,” she writes. “He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn’t want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever. ”
Swift ends the post by saying that her new label — Republic Records — are more supportive, and her masters from upcoming album Lover will be hers to own.
Since the post, #WeStandWithTaylor has featured more than 250,000 tweets supporting Swift — including from Halsey, Iggy Azalea, Carlie Hanson and Allie X. Justin Bieber has also responded to Swift’s post via Instagram, apologising for the original harmful post while also defending himself and Braun, saying neither have ill will towards her.
UPDATE: Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta has responded in an open letter to Swift defending himself and Braun, and also including a page of a 10-year contract where Swift would maintain her masters, which she declined.
Read Swift’s original post below.