‘Scooter’ Braun quits music management: Revisiting his feud with Taylor Swift

Here is a look at his beef with Swift.

The spark

In 2018, Swift announced that she was leaving Big Machine Records (where she had recorded her first six albums) and switching to Universal Music Group’s Republic Record. Initially, it seemed that the deal was a cordial business decision, and no hard feelings were involved among the people who were part of it.

But things began to go south in June 2019 when Braun’s company Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine Records for $330 million from CEO Scott Borchetta. This meant that Braun would own the master recordings — the copyrighted recordings that are used for analogue and digital duplication — of Swift’s first six albums, which infuriated the popstar.

Swift had ‘Bad Blood’ with Braun in the past. His clients such as Kanye West and Justin Bieber had reportedly bullied her through social media platforms. In a post on Tumblr, published the same day Big Machine Records announced its acquisition, Swift recalled the time when West “organised a revenge porn music video (Famous) which strips my body naked”. She also wrote about the incident when “Kim Kardashian (who was at the time married to West) orchestrated an illegally recorded snippet of a phone call,” with Swift.

Swift went on to call the situation her “worst case scenario” and accused Braun of “stripping” her of her life’s work. She wrote that she did try to buy back her masters from Big Machine, but that the terms the label offered her were not favourable.

The next day, Borchetta, in a statement, said: “Taylor had every chance in the world to own not just her master recordings but every video, photograph, everything associated with her career. She chose to leave,”. He also mentioned that “Scooter has been nothing but positive towards Taylor” and “has always been and will continue to be a supporter and honest custodian for her music.”

The flames

The situation worsened in November 2019. Swift, in another post on Tumblr, accused Braun and Borchetta of not allowing her to perform her songs at the American Music Awards.

“Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun have now said that I’m not allowed to perform my old songs on television because they claim that would be re-recording my music before I’m allowed to next year,” she wrote.

She further mentioned that Borchetta and Braun would only allow Swift to use her music on two conditions: “If I agree to not re-record copycat versions of my songs next year (which is something I’m both legally allowed to do and looking forward to) and also told my team that I need to stop talking about him and Scooter Braun”.

In response, Big Machine Records issued a statement explaining that they were “shocked” by the singer’s claims. “At no point did we say Taylor could not perform at the AMAs”. However, the statement did not specify anything about the terms Swift reportedly had to agree to.

The two parties eventually came to terms on a licensing agreement which cleared Swift to perform her old music on “mutually agreed streaming platforms,” which included the AMAs.

The implications

But before the AMA controversy, Swift had announced that she would be re-recording her first six studio albums to gain total control and ownership of her past work. According to her contract with Big Machine Records, while Braun would own the master recordings of her songs, Swift would own the publishing rights, and the actual musical compositions as she wrote all her music.

This meant that she had the authority to re-record her entire catalogue. To date, she has released four re-recorded albums: ‘Fearless,’ ‘Red,’ ‘Speak Now,’ and ‘1989.’ Each has ‘Taylor’s Version’ in parenthesis at the end to indicate that she owns them.

In 2020, Braun sold the masters to a private equity company, Shamrock Holdings, for $300 million. He finally spoke out about the tussle in 2021. Braun told Variety magazine, “I regret and it makes me sad that Taylor had that reaction to the deal.” He claimed that everything that happened “has been very confusing and not based on anything factual.”

He later told MSNBC that Swift has “every right” to re-record her albums, but she should not “weaponise her fanbase” against him. “It’s very dangerous,” he said.