Taylor Swift took to Tumblr to open up about her fraught relationship with music manager Scooter Braun who recently purchased her former record label and with it, all her old music.
This week news broke that Braun – who manages artists including Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, and Kanye West – acquired Scott Borchetta’s label Big Machine Label Group in a deal believed to top $300million.
The 29-year-old singer had some strong words on the purchase saying after she heard of Braun’s deal ‘all I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years.’
The singer then cited her beef with Kim Kardashian in July 2016 and her unwanted cameo in Kanye West’s music video for Famous as examples of the bullying she’s suffered.
‘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,’ she said, adding a photo as proof.
The photo is screenshot of Justin Bieber’s Instagram post from August 2016 where he’s Facetiming Scooter and Kanye with the caption ‘Taylor swift what up’.
Taylor Swift, 29, ripped into music manager ‘manipulative bully’ Scooter Braun, 38, in a candid Tumblr post on Sunday, outraged that his company Ithaca Holdings acquired her old label Big Machine Records and with it her six last albums
Swift said that Scooter has bullied her for years and has tried to dismantle her career. She shared this screenshot of Justin Bieber’s August 2016 Instagram post as proof where he’s Facetiming Scooter Braun and Kanye West and captioned the image ‘Taylor Swift what up’
On her Tumblr Swift drew a circle around Braun’s face in red writing: ‘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.’
Swift continued her post saying: ‘Or when his client, Kanye West, organized 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,’ she added.
Swift said Scooter taking over her old music is her worst nightmare.
She explained she always wanted to own her own music, but entered the music world at the age of 15 and couldn’t fight for herself.
She signed with Big Machine Records and knew that when Borchetta sold the label, he’d be selling her legacy. But she never expected it to be sold to Braun’s company Ithaca Holdings LLC.
This week news broke that Scooter Braun – who manages artists including Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, and Kanye West – acquired Scott Borchetta’s label Big Machine Label Group in a deal believed to top $300million. Braun left and Borchetta right on June 28, 2019
Swift said when she heard of the deal ‘all I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years’. Justin Beiber pictured with Braun in 2017
‘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,’ she added.
With the buy Braun will gain the six albums Swift has released to date – as well a the music of Reba McEntire, Sheryl Crow, Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett, Rascal Flatts and Lady Antebellum, according to Bloomberg.
Swift says the purchase is a betrayal from her old label.
‘Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter,’ she said.
‘…his client, Kanye West, organized a revenge porn music video which strips my body naked,’ Swift said in her Sunday Tumblr post citing Kanye’s Famous music video
Swift’s full Tumblr post pictured here
‘Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words “Scooter Braun” escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to. 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,’ she wrote.
In 2018 Swift signed with Republic Records, a label under the Universal Music Group.
‘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,’ Swift said.
‘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,’ she added.
She ended her post saying ‘sad and grossed out’.
Her next album Lover will be out on August 23.