Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta are two names the Taylor Swift fandom does not play about. If you are wondering what went wrong all those years ago in the singer’s life and what these two men had to do with it, well, read on.
Swift has been releasing re-recorded versions of her albums, with the tag, “Taylor’s Version“. But why did she have to re-record the albums in the first place?
Braun and Swift met in 2009 for the first time when the former was managing Justin Bieber, and the Baby singer opened for the ‘Fearless’ tour. Swift, who was initially signed with Borchetta’s Big Machine Records, ended up signing with Universal Music Group in November 2018.
About a year later, Borchetta sold his company to Braun, and along with it, Swift’s master recordings of her six albums – ‘Debut’, ‘Fearless’, ‘Speak Now’, ‘Red’, ‘1989’, and ‘Reputation’ – in a $300 million deal (via PEOPLE).
In December 2019, Swift gave a speech after she was honored with the first-ever Billboard Woman of the Decade award, calling out the double standard in the music industry. She went on to address Braun directly, stating (via PEOPLE),
Of course, Scooter never contacted me or my team to discuss it prior to the sale or even when it was announced. I’m fairly certain he knew exactly how I would feel about it though and let me just say that the definition of toxic male privilege in our industry is people saying, ‘But he’s always been nice to me’ when I’m raising valid concerns about artists and their rights to own their music. Of course, he’s nice to people in this room, you have something he needs.
From that day on, Swift began releasing Taylor’s Versions of the albums taken from her against her will. She surprised her fans with Vault tracks, and the albums went on to make waves just like their original counterparts.
Taylor Swift’s Scalding Letter About Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta
When Scooter Braun first signed the deal with Scott Borchetta for the purchase of Big Machine Records, the Look What You Made Me Do
She started off posting a picture posted by Bieber on his Instagram, which showed him in a video call with Braun and Kanye West. The caption read, “Taylor swift what up.” Swift 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.“
In the long caption, Swift called out Borchetta first, stating,
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. I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future.
Swift also revealed that she was not informed of the deal beforehand, and she had to find out with the world. She added, “All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years.“
She then called him out for bullying her online and stripping her of her life’s work, stating, “my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.“
The Opalite singer admitted that she knew Borchetta would eventually sell her masters after she left the label, but she never in her “worst nightmares” thought that it would be to Braun. She added that whenever she spoke to Borchetta about Braun, she was on the verge of tears. As Borchetta was someone who spoke highly of “loyalty“, the deal didn’t make any sense to Swift.
She signed the letter, “Sad and grossed out, Taylor“.
P.S. Did you know that Swift’s latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, has a song titled Father Figure which might just be about Borchetta?
How Did Taylor Swift Get Her Master Recordings Back?
On May 30, Swift almost broke the Internet with a post that didn’t need any explanation. She sat on the floor surrounded by her six albums, and the caption read, “You belong with me“, along with the hearts corresponding to the colors of her albums.
A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift)
The caption also directed followers to her website, where a special letter explaining the news was waiting for them. She wrote, “I’m trying to gather my thoughts into something coherent, but right now my mind is just a slideshow…I really get to say these words: All of the music I’ve ever made…now belongs…to me.“
This includes her albums, music videos, album art, photography, concert films, unreleased songs, and of course, the memories. She expressed her gratitude to Shamrock Capital, which allowed her to gain full autonomy of her work.
Shamrock Holdings had acquired the masters from Braun in October 2020 for a reported $405 million (via Variety). By then, Swift had already re-recorded four of her albums. She revealed in a lengthy letter that Braun sold the rights with “100 per cent of my music, videos, and album art” to Shamrock and mandated the investment group not to let Swift know about the sale until it was done and dusted.
Check out her complete statement posted on Twitter, now X, below:
Been getting a lot of questions about the recent sale of my old masters. I hope this clears things up. pic.twitter.com/sscKXp2ibD
Now, on the New Heights podcast, Swift revealed that it was her mom and brother who went to negotiate the purchase, instead of powerful lawyers. She recalled,
My mom calls me afterwards and she like, ‘Look, you know, they were wonderful, they heard us out, we have no idea which way they’re gonna go with this’. And so I was like, I get it, I get it. I haven’t gotten my hopes up about this in a decade. It was a couple of months after the Super Bowl, we’re in Kansas City and I get a call from my mom, and she’s like, ‘You got your music.’
And that’s the story of Swift’s life. A story full of trust, betrayal, hope, and resilience. Themes that run deep within her music. Borchetta and Braun may have gotten the better of her back then, but she knows how to take control of her story. She is “Always Risin’ from the Ashes“.
Take a moment to share your thoughts on Swift’s loss, her war with Borchetta and Braun, and the final chapter of her master recordings in the comments section below!
