Taylor Swift Reacts To Scooter Braun Buying Her Masters
Today (June 30), it was announced that superstar manager Scooter Braun purchased Big Machine Label Group. According to Billboard, the move allegedly cost around $300 million. However, it yields a heavy reward, including the back catalogue of Taylor Swift. The “ME!” singer was part of the Big Machine family between 2006 and 2018. When she left for Universal Music Group last November, Big Machine retained the masters for her previous work. And she is not happy with this new development. Taking to Tumblr, she opened up about her masters, the buyout and previous experiences with Braun.
“For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. Instead I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in,” she wrote. “I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future.” Taylor wrote that she learned about the buyout as the news broke. She also opened up about previous experiences when she felt bullied by Braun and artists he manages including Justin Bieber and Kanye West.
“This is my worst case scenario,” she said. “When I left my masters in Scott’s hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter.” She ended her message by looking toward the future with Universal, where she owns her masters. “Thankfully, I am now signed to a label that believes I should own anything I create. Thankfully, I left my past in Scott’s hands and not my future. And hopefully, young artists or kids with musical dreams will read this and learn about how to better protect themselves in a negotiation. You deserve to own the art you make.”
Read the rest of her response here.
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