Scooter Braun talks about his regrets. Image Source: Billboard
Scooter Braun talks about his regrets.
Scooter Braun talked openly about his well-publicized feud with musician Taylor Swift during his appearance with NPR's The Limits with Jay Williams and the lessons he took away from it.
After Jay Williams posed that question to him in 2019, when he purchased the master recording rights from Taylor Swift, it became a significant event. Jay Williams also asked him if he could go back and change anything. Scooter Braun acknowledged that he would have handled the situation differently and added that he had learned a valuable lesson from it. He also mentioned that at the time his company, Ithaca Holdings purchased Big Machine Music Group, he was bound by a very strict NDA with the owner and was not permitted to give the company to any artists.
Scooter Braun continued that at the time he was not legally allowed to share the information, but he told him that if any of the artists wanted to come back and buy into this, they would have to let him know, and he showed him a letter that was made public in which the artist mentioned (Taylor Swift) expressed a desire not to take part in their masters. Scooter continued by saying he was excited to work with each artist on the label. He started making calls to inform others that he was participating as soon as the deal was finalized. But he made four phone calls before he could begin. As soon as he began making those calls, chaos ensued.
Taylor Swift claimed that she was taken completely by surprise by the arrangement after it was finalized. She then proceeded to social media to denounce it and describe it as her worst-case scenario. She attempted to purchase the catalog on her own but was forced to sign an NDA that halted the transaction and stated that the master recordings were not for sale to her. She claimed to have learned of Scooter Braun's acquisition of her masters as soon as it was made public, and all she could think about was the years of relentless, deceptive bullying she had endured at his hands.
In a shocking statement posted on Tumblr, Taylor claimed that she had to make the agonizing decision to put her history, the songs she composed on her bedroom floor and the films she dreamed up and paid for with the money she made performing in bars, clubs, arenas, and stadiums, behind her. This is what occurs when someone signs a contract at the age of fifteen with someone for whom the phrase "loyalty" is merely a contractual idea, she continued. And when that individual says, "Music has value," he means that men who had nothing to do with its creation choose how valuable it is.
She concluded by writing thankfully, she has a label behind her that thinks she should control everything she makes. She thankfully did not entrust Scott Borchetta with her future; only with her past. And she is now hoping that young musicians or artists will read this and learn how to better defend themselves in a negotiation. Your original works of art should be yours. According to reports, in 2021, Scooter said that everything surrounding the drama is confusing while stating that he did offer Taylor Swift her catalog back but her team refused.
According to Scooter, many things were lost in translation, and he added during the conversation with Jay Williams, that he believed it was difficult to resolve a disagreement with someone if they were unwilling to talk. His regret there is that he believed that everyone would talk with him after the deal was closed, understand his motivation and character, and then say, "Great, let's be in business together." And he assumed that of those he didn't know.
Scooter went on to say that he would never make assumptions or put himself in a position of hubris by believing that someone would simply be willing to talk to him and be excited to work with him again, saying that he had learned an essential lesson from the experience. Additionally, he declared that he did not believe in pulling for individuals to lose and that he wanted everyone to succeed. When Jay Williams questioned him about the online abuse he receives, he responded that he doesn't know who the people writing about him are and that they don't know him, therefore he is not going to focus his energy on it and will instead move on.
Now, according to Scooter, all he has to worry about is how his kids will react to it, as well as ensuring that they have enough self-worth and are familiar with him well enough to recognize what is and isn't true. His attention is on that. More than that, Scooter stated that he is moving on with his life to do the best things he can do and treat people well, adding that people don't want to believe that, which is great, but he believes that one of the proudest things for him is that when all that went down, the people who knew him said that whatever is going in the media was not true and mentioned that he didn't even have to say it for himself.
After Taylor Swift's masters were sold, she began re-recording her classic albums. The "Taylor's Version" of Red and Fearless has previously been reworked by the Grammy winner. Taylor Swift announced in August that a new album with the working title "Midnights in October" would be released.
Taylor Swift or her representatives have not yet commented on the situation.
