MusicianTaylor Swifthas been a part of numerousfeudsover the years. These days, most of her animosity is towards those who have power over artists: the executives. Here’s the latest in theTaylor Swift-Big Machine Records debacle.
How the Taylor Swift-Scooter Braun drama began
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To summarize the whole situation: Shortly after the release of her second single off ofLover, “You Need to Calm Down, ”Swift took to Tumblr. There, she explained that the rights to her master recordings had been sold, along with Big Machine Records, her former label, toScooter Braun, a prominent manager in the music business.
Because of this transaction,Swiftrevealed that she would be re-recording her previous songs at some point in the future. She also expressed how upsetting the sale was to her, because of the way Braun and, in particular, two of his clients, Kanye West and Justin Bieber, had treated her in the past.
Swift’s recent statement
Fast-forward to now.Loverhas been out for months, and Swift was preparing for the American Music Awards on Nov. 24, 2019, where she was scheduled to perform a medley of her old and new work, as well as receive the Artist of the Decade award.According to Swift, Braun and Scott Borchetta, CEO of Big Machine, had told her she wasn ‘t allowed to perform these songs or to use them in an upcoming documentary.
Fans were outraged, as were plenty of other artists, such asHalsey, who soon chimed in expressing support for Swift. The singer-songwriter called for the public to let Braun and Borchetta know how upset they were about this, in hopes that it would convince them to grant her permission.
Her publicist chimes in
But the chaos didn’t stop there.Big Machine Recordsthen chimed in, claiming that this was a non-issue, and that Swift had made these statements “based on false information,” and that she owed them money. Swift’s publicist, Tree Paine, quickly responded with receipts, sending emails to major publications and sharing a statement on social media explaining that it’s Big Machine that owes Swift money.
Days later, Big Machine issued another statement, writing that it had come to an agreement withDick Clark Productions(which hosts the show) to allow Swift to perform anything from her catalog. But, confusingly, DCP responded that it had never been involved in this discussion.
Braun’s latest claims
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Since her first statement, Swift herself has avoided the discussion. However, those fans who she asked to voice their concerns to Braun and Borchetta? It seems as though they haven’t let things go.
Brauntook to social media to share some of the death threats he and his family have received as backlash from this issue. He wrote that he had made it clear that she can sing whatever she wants at the AMAs, though he didn’t address the issue of the Netflix documentary.
Braun concluded, “While disappointed that you have remained silent after being notified by your attorney 4 days ago of these ongoing threats, I’m still hopeful we can fix this.”
Will Swift address this?
The question now becomes: WillSwiftsay anything about this? If there’s one thing these two have in common, it’s that both, apparently, have tried to communicate through the proper channels, but have felt forced to bring this online. Whatever the case, we hope this can all be worked out peacefully, behind-the-scenes.
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