feuds

Taylor Swift Blames Former Label’s Greed for Selling Her Masters to Scooter Braun

Photo: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

Last week, Taylor Swift confirmed (after a lot of encouragement from fellow female musicians) that she was going to rerecord her old albums, following the news that the masters from these albums were recently bought by her nemesis Scooter Braun in a whopping $300 million deal. Now, in a new interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Swift doubled down on her commitment to rerecord the six albums (“yeah, absolutely!”) while also criticizing her former label, Big Machine Records, and its founder, Scott Borchetta, for corporate greed. “I knew he would sell my music. I knew he would do that,” Swift explained about Borchetta. “I couldn’t believe who he sold it to, because we’ve had endless conversations about Scooter Braun. And he has 300 million reasons to conveniently forget those conversations.” Swift also disputed Borchetta’s claims that she was aware of Braun’s deal before it became public knowledge, and that she was actually offered the chance to purchase her masters herself. “I found out when it was online,” Swift added, “like, when it hit the news. Nobody knew.”

Hours after Braun’s acquisition became public back in July, Swift penned a message on Tumblr that said Braun had subjected her to “incessant and manipulative bullying” over many years, calling the deal her worst nightmare. “Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it,” she wrote. “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.” Who’s lying, you ask? Well, who knows.

Swift Slams Greedy Label for Selling Her Masters to Braun