Scooter Braun is known as the man who brought up musicians like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato. However, along with his successes, he’s also well-known for infamously purchasing Taylor Swift’s catalog of music in 2019. That sparked a highly publicized feud, and it resulted in the mega-star deciding to re-record her first six albums. Now, with Taylor’s Versions in the world, and more on the way as she re-creates her first six eras, the artist made it clear she is livid over Braun’s decision to buy her catalog, and the manager is opening up about how he feels regarding how everything went down.
Braun acknowledged the ups and downs of his career, specifically the acquisition of Big Machine Records, the singer’s record label, and Swift’s catalog. While chatting with Bloomberg, he spoke about how he’s tried to grow from the situation, saying:
I choose to look at it as like, these moments that you think someone is attacking you or these moments you think are unfair, one you play a role in every one of these moments because you are part of the story. And two, you can choose to be angry, resentful, bitter, and actually become the story in your anger, or you can choose to say thank you for playing a role in my growth and move on.
The music industry juggernaut admitted that he would have done things differently while speaking with NPR a few months ago when asked specifically about Swift. He discussed how he was under a strict NDA while that deal was being worked out, and he couldn’t tell any of the artists what was happening. Braun spoke about the conflict with Swift, without specifically mentioning the popstar’s name, saying:
I think a lot of things got lost in translation. I think that when you have a conflict with someone it’s very hard to resolve it if you’re not willing to have a conversation. 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.
Following Swift speaking out about the manager and those involved not letting her have a say in who owned her music, Braun sold the singer’s masters to Shamrock Holdings for $300 million in 2020, according to Time, however, the singer is allowed to re-record the songs five years after their commercial release, and she'll own those masters, per Rolling Stone. So, that's exactly what she's doing. The businessman finished the discussion about Swift with NPR, by admitting he felt like he was treated unfairly, but he also acknowledged that she might feel the same way, explaining:
I didn’t appreciate how that all went down. I thought it was unfair. But, I also understand from the other side, they also probably felt it was unfair too. I choose to look at it as a learning lesson, a growing lesson, and I wish everyone involved well. I'm rooting for everyone to win because I don't believe in rooting for people to lose.
Now, almost three years after the deal, Swift has released four brand new albums that she owns – Midnights, folklore, evermore and Lover – and two re-released albums – Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version). With the release of Midnights, there have been Easter eggs peppered through music videos like “Bejeweled” and “Lavender Haze” that have fans convinced Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) will be up next on Swift’s long list of upcoming projects.
Based on the few times Braun has opened up about this kerfuffle with Taylor Swift, it sounds like he has used it as a learning opportunity. Meanwhile, the pop star is about to head out on the Eras Tour, and she will re-release Speak Now, her debut album, Reputation and 1989 over the coming years as she continues her quest to make all her music Taylor's Version.
