Scooter Braun has opened up about Taylor Swift’s “deeply unfair” reaction after he obtained the rights to her first six albums.
He had viewed his 2019 purchase of Swift’s former label, Big Machine, as an exciting opportunity, but soon after the acquisition, Swift posted on Tumblr that she felt “sad and grossed out” about Braun controlling her master recordings and accused him of relentless, manipulative bullying, according to the BBC.
Last month, Swift revealed she had successfully reclaimed the rights to her music by negotiating with the private equity firm that acquired them from Braun in 2020. Commenting on his move to acquire the rights to her first six studio albums, Braun said during an appearance on the “Diary of a CEO” podcast that he did not expect her reaction.
“When I bought Big Machine, I thought I was going to work with all the artists on Big Machine. I thought it was going to be an exciting thing,” he said, noting that he had previously met Swift a handful of times, including one occasion when she “invited me to a private party and we respected each other.”
“In between that time, since I’d seen her last, I started managing Kanye West, I managed Justin Bieber. I knew she didn’t get along with them,” he said.
West famously interrupted Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Awards. Further, reports of Swift and Bieber’s strained relationship have circulated for years, dating back to before Braun’s company purchased her master recordings.
“I had a feeling – this is where my arrogance came in – I had a feeling she probably didn’t like me because I managed them,” Braun said. “But I thought that once this announcement happened, she would talk to me, see who I am, and we would work together.”
Other artists on the Big Machine label, Braun said, were “excited,” and he planned to reach out to Swift until he saw her social media posts.
“And then this Tumblr [post] comes out and says all this stuff. And I was just, like, shocked,” he said.
The experience taught Braun that “everything in life is a gift.”
“Having that experience allows me to have empathy for the people I worked with who I’d always say, ‘Yeah I understand’, but I never knew what it was like to be on the global stage like that,” he said.
“I never knew what criticism like that felt like. And like I told you, the biggest gift that I got from that was understanding that all the praise I had received up until that moment was not deserved, and all the hate I got after that moment was not deserved, because none of these people knew me. She didn’t know me.”
Braun said he decided to sell the rights, accepting that he could not control the public’s reaction.
“I can’t worry about everyone’s niece being mad at me,” he said.
Swift recently reclaimed the rights to her initial six albums—”Taylor Swift,” “Fearless,” “Speak Now,” “Red,” “1989,” and “Reputation” — bringing an end to a lengthy dispute over their ownership. Although the cost of this acquisition remains undisclosed, the catalogue had sold for $300 million in 2020.
Braun, meanwhile, announced his retirement in June last year, saying that he would remain CEO of entertainment company HYBE America but would no longer manage artists.
“I have been blessed to have had a ‘Forrest Gump’-like life while witnessing and taking part in the journeys of some of the most extraordinarily talented people the world has ever seen. I’m constantly pinching myself and asking ‘how did I get here?’ And after 23 years this chapter as a music manager has come to an end,” said Braun in a statement on Instagram.
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