Taylor Swift has hit out at Scooter Braun, accusing him of denying her the chance to own her old masters after the music executive recentl...
Taylor Swift has hit out at Scooter Braun, accusing him of denying her the chance to own her old masters after the music executive recently offloaded them to an investment company.
Swift took to Twitter on Monday with a note detailing how she unsuccessfully tried to negotiate the purchase of the rights to her old music catalog, claiming that Braun demanded she sign an 'ironclad' NDA which would silence her before she could even begin discussions with BMLG Records.
The singer also claimed the masters were sold without her knowledge, and she revealed the name of private equity company Shamrock Holdings as the new owners of her work.
Denied: Taylor Swift took to Twitter on Monday detailing how she unsuccessfully tried to negotiate the purchase of the rights to her old music catalog from Scooter Braun
With her post Swift, 30, also shared a letter she sent to Shamrock after they reached out to her to inform her of the purchase.
The Bad Blood hitmaker informed them that she had been excited at the prospect of partnering with them but after learning that Braun is still going to profit off the catalog she realized there was no way forward.
'Been getting a lot of questions about the recent sale of my old masters. I hope this clears things up.' Swift wrote on Twitter while sharing a lengthy explanation of what transpired.
'I wanted to check in and update you guys. As you know, for the past year I've been actively trying to regain ownership of my masters recordings. With that goal in mind, my team attempted to enter into negotiations with Scooter Braun.' she began.
'Scooter's team wanted my to sign an ironclad NDA stating I would never say another word about Scooter Braun unless it was positive, before we could even look at the financial records of BMLG (which is always the first step in a purchase of this nature). So, I would have to sign a document that would silence me forever before I could even have a chance to bid on my own work.'
Silenced: Swift claimed that Braun demanded she sign an 'ironclad' NDA which would silence her before she could begin discussions with BMLG Records about regaining ownserhip
Swift said her legal team warned her that the type of NDA was not usual in such a transaction 'unless it was to silence an assault accuser by paying them off.'
Allegedly denied the chance to negotiate a purchase, Swift said of Braun: 'He would never even quote my team a price. These master recordings were not for sale to me.'
The Cardigan songstress revealed that the new owner, Shamrock Holdings, wrote to her to inform her of the sale.
'This was the second time my music had been sold without my knowledge. The letter told me that they wanted to reach out before the sale to let me know, but that Scooter Braun had required that they make no contact with me or my team, or the deal would be off.' she wrote.
Disappointed: The singer also revealed Shamrock Holdings as the private equity firm that bought the masters. She shared a letter she sent Shamrock after they reached out to her to let her know about the deal
'This was the second time my music had been sold without my knowledge. The letter told me that they wanted to reach out before the sale to let me know, but that Scooter Braun had required that they make no contact with me or my team, or the deal would be off.' Swift revealed
Swift went on to explain that she considered partnering with Shamrock but her hopes were quashed when she discovered that Bran will still be continuing to profit off her work for years.
'Scooter's participation is a non-starter for me.' Swift explained to fans.
She concluded her note on a more positive note, writing, 'I have recently begun re-recording my older music and it has already proven to be both exciting and creatively fulfilling. I have plenty of surprises in store. I want to thank you guys for supporting me through this ongoing saga, and I can't wait for you to hear what I've been dreaming up. I love you guys and I'm just gonna keep cruising, as they say. Taylor'
Braun sold Swift's highly-coveted masters from the Big Machine Label Group for over $300 million according to a Variety report on Monday.
The 39-year-old music executive unloaded the master rights to Swift's first six albums to an unnamed investment fund according to the report.
The buyer and actual price has yet to be reported but the deal is believed to be over $300 million and closed within the last two weeks according to the entertainment publication.
Can't in good conscious: Swift said she learned that Braun will still be profiting off her masters after the sale and explained that there is no way forward to partner with the new owners
Braun's company Ithaca Holdings LLC purchased Nashville-based independent record label Big Machine, which was founded by Scott Borchetta in 2005, in June 2019 for just above $300 million.
The sale comes at an interesting time as Swift is now free to re-record songs from her first five BMLG-issued albums as of this month.
Back in April, Swift slammed the family of billionaire investor George Soros and her nemesis Braun for their 'shameless greed' on the release of a new album of her songs.
The music superstar took to Instagram to slam the executives in the war of words over the ownership of her music.
Sold without her knowledge: Variety revealed on Monday that Braun sold Swift's highly-coveted masters from the Big Machine Label Group for over $300 million
'It looks to me like Scooter Braun and his financial backers, 23 Capital, Alex Soros, and the Soros family and The Carlyle Group, have seen the latest balance sheets and realized that paying $330 million for my music wasn't exactly a wise choice and they need money,' Swift wrote in the post.
Swift finished off her note to her 131 million fans with a biting statement aimed at the executives as she wrote: 'In my opinion... Just another case of shameless greed in the time of the coronavirus.
'So tasteless, but very transparent.'
'So tasteless': Back in April, Swift ([pictured in Utah back in January) slammed Scooter Braun and his business partners over an upcoming release of live performances
Sealing the deal: The two have been feuding for nearly a year after Braun reached a deal of more than $300million to purchase Big Machine Records from Scott Borchetta and with it, all of Swift's old music back in June 2019, the two are pictured at the time of the deal
The album in question was titled 'Live From Clear Channel Stripped 2008' as some diehard Taylor fans were able to find it listed on Spotify.
Swift wrote: 'Hey guys - I want to thank my fans for making me aware that my former record label is putting out an 'album' of live performances of mine tonight.
'This recording is from a 2008 radio show performance I did when I was 18. Big Machine has listed the date as a 2017 release but they're actually releasing it tonight at midnight.'
Swift and Braun have been feuding for over a year after Braun reached a deal of more than $300million to purchase Big Machine Records and with it all of Swift's old music back in June 2019.
Big Machine Records' Scott Borchetta first signed Swift as a teenager, but she has been trying to purchase back the masters of her first six albums, to no avail.
When Scooter Braun bought into Big Machine, she described him as 'an incessant, manipulative bully.'
Written in Red: Earlier this year the superstar had taken to her Instagram to post a lengthy statement in which she took aim at the record executive and partners for their 'shameless greed'
'They need money': Days before the performance Scooter revealed he had received death threats since Taylor claimed he won't let her perform her back catalog at the awards, which he denied
Braun's acquisition of the company also prompted Taylor to announce her plans to re-record her albums originally recorded under Big Machine this coming year.
The pop star has now dragged the Soros family into the spat, specifically shaming 'Alex Soros and the Soros family' for financially backing her ex-manager Braun.
It's not the first time Taylor has laid into Soros's family.
On stage at the Billboard's 'Women in Music' event in December she exposed their involvement in the ongoing battle over her music and called out theirs and Braun's 'toxic male privilege'.
Courting controversy: The album in question appears to be titled 'Live From Clear Channel Stripped 2008 as some diehard Taylor fans were able to find it listed on Spotify
Taking a stand: Swift (seen in October 2018) wrote: 'This recording is from a 2008 radio show performance I did when I was 18. Big Machine has listed the date as a 2017 release but they're actually releasing it tonight at midnight'
'After I was denied the chance to purchase my music outright, my entire catalog was sold to Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings in a deal that I'm told was funded by the Soros family, 23 Capital, and the Carlyle Group,' she said.
'Yet to this day, none of these investors have bothered to contact me or my team directly to perform their due diligence on their investment, on their investment in me.'
She then continued to direct her words toward Braun: 'If you're in this room, you have something he needs. The fact is that private equity enabled this man to think, according to his own social media post, that he could 'buy me.' But I'm obviously not going willingly. Yet the most amazing thing was to discover that it would be the women in our industry who would have my back and show me the most vocal support at one of the most difficult times, and I will never, ever forget it. Like, ever.'
The hit-maker went on to challenge the audience to 'stand as an example for someone else in the next generation that loves the same thing that we love.'
Hitting back: This isn't the first time Taylor has gone after Braun and his high powered business partners in public as called them out for 'toxic male privilege' while accepting the award for Woman of the Decade at the Billboard Women in Music gala in Los Angeles back in December
Interesting: Swift took on Braun in the very pointed speech after he had acquired Swift's music catalog alongside Big Machine CEO Scott Borchetta back in June 2019
'No matter what else enters the conversation we will always bring it back to music. As for me, lately I've been focusing less on what they say I can't do and more on doing whatever the hell I want.'
Swift received a standing ovation for her powerful words.
Skeptics have questioned whether the fight with the Soros family and Braun is as much to do with politics as it is business.
Investor George Soros, who has been plagued by anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, is a major Democratic party megadonor while Braun helped organize the March for Our Lives protest back in 2018 which called for an end to gun violence.
Swift famously kept her political beliefs to herself for years, and a few years back a small White Supremacist faction of her fan base anointed her an 'Aryan goddess' who harbors extreme right-wing beliefs.
But in 2018, Swift finally spoke out about her political standpoint when she intervened on behalf of Democrats in a midterm election in her home state of Tennessee.
She has since emerged as a public supporter of the Democratic party.
The long-running feud over the music all started when Braun reached a deal of more than $300million to purchase BMLG in June 2019, with the Soros family helping to raise the capital for the buyout.
Swift blasted the move, saying she had for years pleaded for a chance to own her work but was only 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'.
Ever since then, Swift has used her performance stage to vocalize her anger over the dispute.
During her highly-anticipated Artist of the Decade performance at the American Music Awards in November she took another swipe at Braun.
She began her performance at the event held at the Microsoft Theater wearing a white button-down dress shirt with the titles of all her older albums on it including 1989 and Fearless.
She sang her female empowering hit - The Man - before shedding the top to symbolically hit back at the record executives as they own her old catalog of music despite her writing all of it.
The song plays with the perception of men and women in society as she previously explained to Vogue: 'If I had made all the same choices, all the same mistakes, all the same accomplishments, how would it read?'
Taking aim at The Man: Weeks before that Swift took aim Braun and Borchetta again during her highly-anticipated Artist of the Decade performance at the American Music Awards
Iconic: It truly was Swift's night as she earned the top honor of Artist of the Year which lead her to eclipse Michael Jackson with 29 wins at the annual event for most of all-time during the American Music Awards in November
The performance came after Swift was cleared to perform any of her previous hits amid all the controversy.
A statement read: 'The Big Machine Label Group and Dick Clark Productions announce that they have come to terms on a licensing agreement that approves their artists' performances to stream post show and for re-broadcast on mutually approved platforms.
'This includes the upcoming American Music Awards performances for Thomas Rhett and former Big Machine Records recording artist Taylor Swift.'
Days before the performance Scooter revealed he had received death threats since Taylor claimed he won't let her perform her back catalog at the awards, which he denied.
Tough situation: Days before the performance Scooter (pictured with Borchetta in Montecito in June 2019) revealed he had received death threats since Taylor claimed he won't let her perform her back catalog at the awards, which he denied
Posting to Instagram and tagging Taylor in a length statement, he also shared a screengrab of one of the threats.
He wrote: 'It is important that you understand that your words carry a tremendous amount of weight and that your message can be interpreted by some in different way .
'This morning I spoke out publicly for the first time saying I wouldn't participate in a social media war. However I came home tonight to find my wife had received a phone call threatening the safety of our children as well as other threats.'
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