Taylor Swift’s Former Label Owner Tells His Side of Scooter Braun Story
On Sunday (June 30) the internet exploded when Taylor Swift wrote a passionate letter detailing the hurt she felt when her former record label Big Machine was sold to Scooter Braun, a manager to the stars (Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato) whom the pop star accused of "bullying." In her letter, the singer claimed that before she left the label and signed to Universal Music Group, she tried to retain the rights to her music.
"For years, I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work," she wrote in her frustrated Tumblr post. "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."
Now, Big Machine label founder Scott Borchetta is telling his side of the story in a lengthy post titled "So It's Time For Some Truth." He states that he texted Swift personally before the news broke and called the deal he offered her to stay "extraordinary."
"I am attaching a few very important deal points in what was part of our official last offer to Taylor Swift to remain at Big Machine Records. Her 13 Management team and attorney Don Passman went over this document in great detail and reported the terms to her in great detail," he wrote in the post. "Taylor and I then talked through the deal together. As you will read, 100% of all Taylor Swift assets were to be transferred to her immediately upon signing the new agreement. We were working together on a new type of deal for our new streaming world that was not necessarily tied to ‘albums’ but more of a length of time."
"We are an independent record company. We do not have tens of thousands of artists and recordings," he added. "My offer to Taylor, for the size of our company, was extraordinary. But it was also all I could offer as I am responsible for dozens of artists’ careers and over 120 executives and their families."
He continued his response, explaining his relationship with Braun and denying Swift's claims that he witnessed her in tears over his unkind actions.
"As to her comments about ‘being in tears or close to it’ anytime my new partner Scooter Braun’s name was brought up, I certainly never experienced that. Was I aware of some prior issues between Taylor and Justin Bieber? Yes. But there were also times where Taylor knew that I was close to Scooter and that Scooter was a very good source of information for upcoming album releases, tours, etc, and I’d reach out to him for information on our behalf," he explained. "Scooter was never anything but positive about Taylor. He called me directly about Manchester to see if Taylor would participate (she declined). He called me directly to see if Taylor wanted to participate in the Parkland March (she declined). Scooter has always been and will continue to be a supporter and honest custodian for Taylor and her music."
Read Borchetta's full rebuttal here.
In the past 24 hours, the music world has become divided into Team Taylor and Team Scooter, with artists like Halsey defending T-Swift and Braun's latest client Lovato standing up for her new manager.