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Swift says music manager Scooter Braun is holding her music hostage.
(Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
Topline: Taylor Swift on Thursday accused prolific music manager Scooter Braun of preventing her from performing her old songs during a live performance at the American Music Awards later this month, escalating a long-running feud between the pair over who owns the rights to Swift’s extensive music catalogue.
In a statement on Twitter, Swift said she planned to perform a medley of her past hits at the American Music Awards on November 24 because she is being honored with the Artist of the Decade Award.But, Swift said, Braun and Scott Borchetta, the CEO of her old record label Big Machine Records, are preventing her from performing any song recorded before her most recent album, “Lover,” live.In a deal that ignited their feud, Braun bought Big Machine Records in June and subsequently gained ownership of Swift’s master recordings, or the copy in which all other copies of the song are made. Swift says she plans on re-recording her masters with her new record label, but can only do so legally next year under her previous contract.Braun and Borchetta, Swift said, claim that a live performance at the AMAs amounts to her re-recording her music before she can legally do so. Swift also said that Braun and Borchetta weren’t allowing her old music to be used in an upcoming Netflix documentary about her life, and would only release her music if she agreed not to re-record her masters and stopped talking about them publicly.She claims Braun and Borchetta are “men who are exercising tyrannical control over someone who just wants to play the music she wrote” and asked her legions of fans to “please let Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun know how you feel about this.”
Neither Scooter Braun nor Big Machine Records immediately responded to a request for comment from Forbes.
Crucial quote: “The message being sent to me is very clear. Basically, be a good little girl and shut up. Or you’ll be punished. This is WRONG. Neither of these men had a hand in the writing of those songs,” Swift said in her tweet.
Key background: After Braun announced he bought Big Machine for $300 million in June, Swift claimed in a Tumblr post that him owning her masters was her “worst case scenario” because Braun had previously directed his clients, such as Kanye West, to bully her during the fracas surrounding the music video to West’s song “Famous.”
The ensuing feud between Swift and Braun entangled several other musicians, like Todrick Hall and Demi Lovato, who publicly supported or criticized Braun.
Swift signed with Universal Music Group last year, eschewing Big Machine, the label she has been with since she was 15. She says Big Machine owner Borchetta didn’t allow her to own her previous work and would only let her “earn” one master recording each time she recorded a new album. Swift’s new deal allows her to own her future work.
