“I learned an important lesson from that”: Scooter Braun opens up about Taylor Swift feud

During a recent interview with NPR, Scooter Braun responded to his long dispute with Taylor Swift over the years.

Braun took over Swift’s former label Big Machine Records in 2019 and acquired the rights to Swift’s six albums. Taylor replied to this and stated that Braun had been bullying her for several years.

During the interview, Braun was questioned if he if he would control the situation if he got to go back in time. He responded and said that he would have loved to change everything and added:

“Yes, I would have. I learned an important lesson from that.”

Scooter said that he had signed a non-disclosure agreement while negotiating with Big Machine Records, which he claimed impacted a lot of things. The owner of Big Machine Records told Scooter that Swift had no interest in her masters. However, the company would allow her to get rights to her masters if she stayed with the agency and earned the rights to each album she recorded.

Braun mentioned that he was excited to work with any artist on the label and called a few people after the deal was closed. He told a few artists that he was a part of it and things took a turn for the worse. He continued:

“So the regret I have there is that I made the assumption that everyone, once the deal was done, was going to have a conversation with me, see my intent, see my character and say, great, let’s be in business together. And I made that assumption with people that I didn’t know.”

Scooter concluded by saying that he would now focus on the future and that he was going to learn from everything that happened and move on.

---

What happened between Scooter Braun and Taylor Swift?

Big Machine Records was acquired by Scooter Braun and his company Ithaca Holdings. The rights for Swift’s master recordings were eventually passed on to Braun and Swift was unhappy about the same. In a 2019 Tumblr post, the singer stated that Braun was an “incessant, manipulative bully.” She also called out another music executive Scott Borchetta for bullying her.

Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun's dispute started when the latter acquired the Big Machine Records (Images via Michael Tran and Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

Taylor Swift had been attempting to purchase her old master recordings for the past few years. Her Tumblr post received a mixed response on social media where musicians like Halsey and Iggy Azalea supported her while Justin Bieber and Demi Lovato showcased their support for Braun.

The master recording refers to the first recording from which all other copies are released on various platforms. If someone wishes to make a copy, they must be allowed to do the same by the owner of the master recordings. Record companies usually own an artist’s masters and Swift has always been against that policy.

Taylor Swift accused Braun of being a bully while she called Borchetta a traitor for selling her master recordings to Braun without allowing her to purchase them. She was also angry about Braun’s relationship with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, who had a feud with her. Braun was also West’s manager at one point.

Swift stated that she continuously tried to purchase her masters from Big Machine Records. However, they only allowed her to get back one record at a time and demanded she release a full album to get all of them. Taylor stated that Borchetta did not trust Braun, but he did not warn Swift about his plans to sell to Braun, and she came to know only after things went public.

Borchetta responded to the accusations by speaking about a negotiation document. According to that deal, Taylor Swift could take control of her masters but had to work with Big Machine for a few years. However, Taylor was not ready to stay on the label since she was aware that it was about to be sold and she had to work under the new management.

According to Borchetta, lawyers and executives from Taylor Swift’s 13 Management company were present when the shareholders decided to sell the label to Braun. Borchetta said that he even texted Swift informing her about the sale.