Taylor Swift Revealed There Was Behind-The-Scenes Drama That Made Her Speak Out Against Scott Borchetta
"If you don't ask the right questions and you sit in front of the wrong desk in front of the wrong person, they can take everything from you."
Back in June, Taylor Swift responded publicly after it was announced that Scooter Braun had acquired her former record label, Big Machine, for $300 million.
In an open letter posted to Tumblr, Swift began by claiming that the CEO of Big Machine, Scott Borchetta, repeatedly denied her the opportunity to buy her master recordings, which was a large part of the reason she left the label at the end of her contract in 2018.
Taylor went on to say that she was denied the chance to purchase the recordings outright, but was instead given the opportunity to sign a new six-album deal and "earn" the right to one old record for each new one turned in.
She eventually made the decision to leave the label and sign with Republic Records. In her post announcing the new deal, she revealed she would own the master recordings of all her music going forward. Her seventh album, Lover, released in August, was therefore the first one she owns.
Taylor then went on to express devastation that Scott had decided to sell the label and the rights to her master recordings in perpetuity to Scooter — someone she alleged had "incessantly bullied" and "manipulated" her for years.
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She wrote: "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. Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words 'Scooter Braun' escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to.'"
And in an interview with Rolling Stone just three months after the sale, Taylor revealed the extent to which she felt "betrayed" by Scott.
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She said: "I truly, legitimately thought he looked at me as the daughter he never had. ... I thought I knew what betrayal felt like, but this stuff that happened with him was a redefinition of betrayal for me, just because it felt like it was family. To go from feeling like you’re being looked at as a daughter to this grotesque feeling of 'Oh, I was actually his prized calf that he was fattening up to sell to the slaughterhouse that would pay the most...'"
She added that she believed the deal had been made "sneakily" by "two very rich, very powerful men" seeking to control her life's work.
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Taylor said: "These are two very rich, very powerful men, using $300 million of other people’s money to purchase, like, the most feminine body of work. And then they’re standing in a wood-panel bar doing a tacky photo shoot, raising a glass of scotch to themselves. Because they pulled one over on me and got this done so sneakily that I didn’t even see it coming."
Well, Taylor has now explained why she chose to handle the situation so publicly, revealing that she hoped to inform other artists so that they might avoid a similar ordeal.
Speaking to Music Week, Taylor explained that she wanted to "make the public aware" of what had gone on behind the scenes.
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Asked whether she spoke out to warn other artists about the reality of the music industry, Taylor responded: "That's the only reason I spoke out. The fans don't understand these things, the public isn't being made aware. ... I thought it was important that the fans knew what I was going through, because I knew that it was going to affect every aspect of my life and I wanted them to be the first to know."
"And, in amongst that group [of fans], I know that there are people that want to make music some day," she continued. "It involves every new artist that is reading that and going, 'Wait, that's what I'm signing?!'"
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She added: "They don't have to sign stuff that's unfair to them. If you don't ask the right questions and you sit in front of the wrong desk in front of the wrong person, they can take everything from you."
Taylor went on to discuss the "constraints" and "creative differences" she experienced at Big Machine, revealing that she was disappointed that the "generosity" she offered the label through her work wasn't returned in the end.
She said: "In my previous situation, there were creative constraints — issues that we had over the years. I've always given 100% to projects. I always over-delivered thinking that that generosity would be returned to me."
Taylor added, however, that she's experienced the generosity she'd hoped for at her new label, whose belief in her right to own her work has inspired the new music.
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"I ended up finding that generosity in a new situation with a new label," she said. "That label understands that I deserve to own what I make. That means so much to me because it was given to me so freely."
"When someone just looks at you and says 'Yes, you deserve what you want' after a decade of more of being told 'I'm not sure you deserve what you want,' there's such a freedom that comes with that," she explained.
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She continued: "All of a sudden, you're being told you're worth exactly — no, more — than what you thought you were worth. And that made me feel I could make an album that was exactly what I wanted to make."