Taylor Swift Says She’s “Sad And Grossed Out” About Scooter Braun’s Deal To Acquire Her Master Recordings

Hours after news broke that Scooter Braun bought Scott Borchetta‘s Big Machine Label Group, Taylor Swift had some things to say.

On Sunday, Billboard reported that Swift’s former label, Big Machine Label Group, closed a deal to be acquired by music manager Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings. Big Machine is the owner of Swift’s master recordings from her 2006 self-titled debut through to her previous album, 2017’s Reputation.

Swift shared a post on her Tumblr page, expressing how “sad and grossed out” the sale makes her.

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“For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work,” Swift stated in her Tumblr post. “Instead I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in. I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future. I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past. Music I wrote on my bedroom floor and videos I dreamed up and paid for from the money I earned playing in bars, then clubs, then arenas, then stadiums.”

The artist says she was also given no advance warning of the news, but only learned of it as the rest of the world did.

Swift noted a sense of betrayal at her music being sold to Braun, a man she alleges perpetrated “incessant, manipulative bullying” against her for years. She alleges that Kim Kardashian orchestrated an illegally recorded snippet of a phone call to be leaked and then Scooter got his two clients together to bully her online about it. Swift noted that Kanye West, who is also managed by Braun, organized a “revenge porn” music video which strips her body naked.

In the Tumblr post, Swift also called out Borchetta, the founder of Big Machine, for selling her catalog to a man he knew she had negative history with. “When I left my masters in Scott’s hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them,” she wrote. “Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. Any time 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.”

She ended the Tumblr message by praising her current label, writing, “Thankfully, I am now signed to a label that believes I should own anything I create. Thankfully, I left my past in Scott’s hands and not my future. And hopefully, young artists or kids with musical dreams will read this and learn about how to better protect themselves in a negotiation. You deserve to own the art you make.”

Read the entire post here.

Braun’s wife, Yael, posted on Instagram Sunday, replying back to Swift’s complaints. She wrote, “You were given the opportunity to own your masters, you passed.” She also claims that Swift was given advanced notice of the news. “Your dad is a shareholder and was notified, and Borchetta (the CEO of Big Machine) personally told you before this came out. So no, you didn’t find out with the world,” she noted.

Later Sunday night, Swift’s rep refuted claims that the singer’s father is on the Big Machine board of directors and received advanced notice of the deal.

“Scott Swift is not on the board of directors and has never been,” the rep told People. 

“On June 25, there was a shareholder phone call that Scott Swift did not participate in due to a very strict NDA that bound all shareholders and prohibited any discussion at all without risk of severe penalty.”

The rep continued to explain that Taylor’s dad skipped the call, so he wouldn’t have to withhold info from his daughter. The rep also mentioned, “Taylor found out from the news articles when she woke up before seeing any text from Scott Borchetta and he did not call her in advance.”