Scooter Braun wants to tell his side of the story about Taylor Swift‘s masters. But in the interview, he doesn’t come off as objective as he wanted to, claiming “The thing that struck me the worst is the word ‘bully.’”
If you’re not up to date with Taylor Swift’s masters, I’ll catch you up real quick.
After Taylor Swift’s contract with Big Machine ended, Scott Borchetta reportedly sold Taylor’s masters over all her work on her first six albums. Without giving her an opportunity to purchase them. Which means someone else would have a say on how her music is distributed or promoted, or used in other music.
Taylor then wrote a lengthy letter to her fans, saying she didn’t know what else to do but come clean about the whole situation. In the end, the best solution was to re-record all her albums, as soon as it was legally possible. The first one she chose was Fearless, and all her new albums add “Taylor’s Version.” You can read more about it here.
Taylor has recently just announced her next re-recorded album, and she chose Red. Her announcement was, ironically, on Scooter Braun’s birthday.
In an interview with Variety, Scooter insists that he’s the good guy. Scooter owns a management company which deals with stars like Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato or Ariana Grande.
Talking on what happened with Taylor Swift’s masters, Scooter said: “I regret and it makes me sad that Taylor had that reaction to the deal. … All of what happened has been very confusing and not based on anything factual. I don’t know what story she was told. I asked for her to sit down with me several times, but she refused. I offered to sell her the catalog back and went under NDA, but her team refused. It all seems very unfortunate. Open communication is important and can lead to understanding. She and I only met briefly three or four times in the past, and all our interactions were really friendly and kind. I find her to be an incredibly talented artist and wish her nothing but the best.”
Been getting a lot of questions about the recent sale of my old masters. I hope this clears things up. pic.twitter.com/sscKXp2ibD
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) November 16, 2020
Taylor wrote in November 2020: “He would never even quote my team a price” and that she was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement that would “silence [her] forever unless it was something positive [about Braun].”
The interviewer asked Scooter if their fight was personal, or just business. “The thing that struck me the worst is the word “bully.” I’m firmly against anyone ever being bullied. I always try to lead with appreciation and understanding. The one thing I’m proudest of in that moment was that my artists and team stood by me. They know my character and my truth. That meant a lot to me. In the long run, I’m happy for my life’s work to be the legacy I leave behind.”
And added that, somehow, that created misconceptions about his character. “I think when you’re successful, you are misunderstood. Success is a game of chess, and sometimes on that chessboard, people don’t see what you’re doing until four or five moves in. There’s always going to be misconceptions because people want to see things the way they want to see them. But it would be really nice if we all give each other a little bit of grace.”
