Big Machine Label Group Sale Drama: What Taylor Swift, Scott Borchetta and Others Have Said
On June 30, a news bomb dropped: Big Machine Label Group founder and CEO Scott Borchetta had sold the Nashville-based record label and its publishing arm, Big Machine Music, to celebrity talent manager Scooter Braun for upwards of $300 million. It was already big news — the purchase would make Braun, who manages, among others, Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, an important player in Music City, after all — and then, Taylor Swift spoke up.
One of BMLG's very first signed artists, Swift and her superstar career helped put BMLG — which Borchetta founded in 2005 and had been looking to sell for a couple of years now — on the map. The fact that the label owns the master recordings for her incredibly successful first six studio albums made the sale especially major news, as it sets Braun up to profit from future sales of those albums. And Swift wasn't very happy about it. In a note to fans on her Tumblr page, Swift wrote that not only had she not been given the opportunity to purchase her masters from BMLG, but she also only learned about the label's sale to Braun when the news broke to the general public. The star also called Braun a bully, and accused him of harassing her via his clients.
Naturally, Swift's words made headlines, which then prompted Borchetta to respond with a blog of his own. Braun did not make any public statements, but his clients (and his wife) came to his defense — just as other celebrities did for Swift.
Nearly five months later -- during which time, Swift shared that she "absolutely" planned to re-record her music in 2020, when her contract allowed, to take back control of her work -- the feud made headlines once again. On Thursday (Nov. 14), Swift alleged that Braun and Borchetta are blocking her from performing her old music during the 2019 American Music Awards, and from releasing a Netflix documentary. Less than a day later, Big Machine Label Group released a statement refuting Swift's claims -- which a rep for Swift then called into question with another statement.
Frankly, it's gotten tough to keep straight, so we're breaking down everyone's comments in the photo gallery below. Want to know what's been said? Keep reading.
What Taylor Swift, Scott Borchetta + More Have Said About Scooter Braun Buying Big Machine: