Feud between the fandom. Scooter Braun is OK with Taylor Swift re-recording her albums, but has some underlying beef with the fandom. The record-producer told MSNBC on April 27,2022, what he thought of the evermore artist remaking her songs.
“I think Taylor has every right to re-record. She has every right to pursue her masters,” Scooter said. “And I wish her nothing but well, and I have zero interest in saying anything bad about her… The only thing I disagree with is weaponizing a fanbase.”
Scooter acquired Taylor’s masters in 2019 and sold it for $300 million to a private equity company in 2020. The masters were acquired when Scooter bought Taylor’s former label, Big Machine records. The acquisition does not allow Taylor the creative freedom of owning her own songs. Taylor re-released her previous albums Fearless (released in 2008) and Red (released in 2012), with Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version), both released in 2021.
“There’s a responsibility with a fanbase,” Scooter directed towards Swifties, who have been calling out the manager for years. “The artists I work with have very large fan bases. You don’t do that. It’s very dangerous. There’s people in that fan base who have mental health issues. There’s families involved and I think that’s very, very dangerous.”
Taylor’s fans found out about Scooter’s participation in the masters through Taylor’s Tumblr post on June 23, 2019. “When I left my masters in Scott’s hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually, he would sell them. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter,” Taylor wrote at the time. “Any time [Big Machine Records’] Scott Borchetta has heard the words ‘Scooter Braun’ escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to. He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn’t want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever.”
Taylor further commented on the controversy an Billboard’s Women in Music event in 2019. “This just happened to me without my approval, consultation or consent,” she said during an acceptance speech. “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 that Carlyle Group,” she continued. “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. To ask how I might feel about the new owner of my art, the music I wrote, the videos I created, photos of me, my handwriting, my album designs.”