The feud between pop sensation Taylor Swift and celebrity manager Scooter Braun is a complicated affair. Thankfully, the upcoming two-part documentary, Taylor Swift vs. Scooter Braun: Bad Blood, will delve deep into this dispute.
Taylor and Scooter’s feud commenced after the pop singer’s partnership ended with Big Machine Records, whose current owner is the celebrity manager. According to Cosmopolitan, Taylor recorded her first six albums with this record company. Naturally, she wanted ownership of her music and was trying to purchase the masters of the albums, Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, and Reputation. However, in 2019, Scooter Braun acquired them from Big Machine Records founder, Scott Borchetta. This meant most of the singer’s work was under Scooter’s control.
The dispute escalated after Taylor criticized Scott and Scooter on Tumblr in July 2019. Later that month, TV personality Kelly Clarkson proceeded to give the singer some interesting advice. Clarkson posted on Twitter, urging Taylor to re-record her first six albums. A month later, the singer appeared on Good Morning America and announced that she would officially begin re-recording her Scooter Braun-owned albums.
She added that she was excited to do that and also stated that she believed that every artist had the right to own their music. She said, “Yeah, that’s true. It’s something that I’m very excited about doing because my current contract says that starting November 2020—so next year—I can record albums one through five all over again. I’m very excited about it because I think that artists deserve to own their work. I just feel very passionately about that.”
In subsequent months, this feud only got uglier.
Taylor Swift wasn’t permitted to sing her old songs at the 2019 AMAs
In 2019, the American Music Awards (AMA) announced that Taylor Swift won the coveted Artist of the Decade Award. In November of the same year, the singer revealed on Tumblr that Scooter and Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta allegedly didn’t permit her to perform her old songs during a medley at the award ceremony. The reason behind this was that Scooter and Scott believed that singing these songs meant re-recording her old music. Taylor did have permission to re-record them, but not before November 2020.
Her exact words were, “Guys – It’s been announced recently that the American Music Awards will be honoring me with the Artist of the Decade Award at this year’s ceremony. I’ve been planning to perform a medley of my hits throughout the decade on the show.” She continued, “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 also added that Scooter and Scott didn’t let Netflix use her old songs and performance footage in the documentary Miss Americana.
The singer urged her fans to express their displeasure about the situation. However, Big Machine Records soon responded to Taylor’s criticism on their website. The company stated that the singer’s claims were untrue and requested a private conversation with her. Taylor’s representative Tree Paine defended the singer by confirming that she was truthful and that Big Machine Records was treating her unjustly. Additionally, Paine revealed that the company owed the singer a whopping $7.9 million in royalties.
Nevertheless, Taylor Swift got permission to sing songs from her first six albums at the 2019 AMAs. This was confirmed by a Big Machine executive nine days before the event.
Taylor Swift sang her old songs at the 2019 AMAs however, the feud reignited a year later
In April 2020, Taylor shared an update on her Instagram story, where she revealed that her former record company was planning to release a 10-year-old performance of hers. She added that by doing so, Scooter and his team wanted to make up for the money spent on purchasing her older albums. Her statement said, “I’m always honest with you guys about this stuff so I just wanted to tell you that this release is not approved by me. It looks like Scooter Braun and his financial backers, 23 Capital, Alex Soros and the Soros family, and The Carlyle Group have seen the latest balance sheets. And realized that paying $330 million for my music wasn’t exactly a wise choice and they need money.”
In November later that year, Scooter sold the masters of Taylor’s first six albums for $300 million. Variety reported that the investment fund buyer had no connection with the singer.
In subsequent months and years, Taylor Swift called Scooter and Scott out several times. She mentioned them in her music and also once trolled them in a commercial. Eventually, she began re-releasing her old albums. Billboard reported that Fearless (Taylor’s Version) sold 1 million units while Red (Taylor’s Version) sold 1.94 million units. While the singer’s career is seeing an upward trajectory, Scooter Braun began losing clients left and right.
