Pop star Taylor Swift took to social media her utter disappointment over the acquisition of her music by her former manager, Scooter Braun.
The 29-year-old singer said she tried for years to negotiate and own her music from her former record company, Big Machine Label Group.
Braun’s company, Ithaca Holdings, acquired Big Machine Label Group to the tune of a $300 million sale. Big Machine owns the music rights of Swift’’s past recordings.
Swift worked with the company from 2006 until she left it for Universal Music Group in 2018.
In her Tumblr post, Swift said she was told she could only own her music from Big Machine if “she signs a new contract that gave her ownership of one of her old albums for every new one she completed”.
The “Shake It Off” artist said this was Braun’s way of ‘manipulative bullying’ even after the illegally recorded snippet of a phone call that Kim Kardashian released online.
Swift ended her note being grateful for the current record company she is working on for allowing her to own her own music.
In a statement sent to Billboard, Braun said the idea of working with Big Machine owner Scott Borchetta were already in the talks since the “beginning of their friendship”.
Borchetta, meanwhile, wrote on the company’s blog that Swift had been offered a deal in which “100 percent of all Taylor Swift assets were to be transferred to her immediately upon signing the new agreement.”
He posted excerpts from the proposed deal as well as friendly text messages that he said were between himself and Swift under the headline: “So, It’s Time for Some Truth.”
Justin Bieber, another pop icon singer being managed by Braun, on one hand, made an off-the-cuff remarks in his Instagram posting “Taylor Swift what up?” The comment had an accompanying photo of him FaceTiming Kanye West.
Bieber later took down the post and apologized to Swift for making such a “hurtful,” “distasteful” and “insensitive” remark.
But in that another Instagram post, Bieber defended Braun.
“Scooter has had your back since the days you graciously let me open up for you! As the years have passed, we haven’t crossed paths and gotten to communicate our differences, hurts or frustrations. So for you to take it to social media and get people to hate on Scooter isn’t fair. What were you trying to accomplish by posting that blog?
“[It] seems to me like it was to get sympathy. [You] also knew that in posting, that your fans would go and bully Scooter,” Bieber wrote.
Demi Lovato also came in the defense of Braun.
Here’s Justin Bieber’s Instagram post:
