What’s up guys, it’s Sussan Mourad here with Clevver Music, and Taylor Swift has spoken
out after news broke that Scooter Braun sold the rights to her first six albums on Monday.
Get ready, because the tea is piping hot today!
In case you’re unaware, Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings LLC acquired Big Machine Label
Group and all their assets, which includes the rights to Taylor Swift’s first six albums,
in 2019.
(file: Albums.jpg)
And now, an investment fund reportedly bought the singer’s Masters for over $300 million
earlier this month.
According to TMZ, the deal also included music from Big Machine’s other clients, including
Sheryl Crow, Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett, Rascal Flatts, and Lady Antebellum.
Scott Borchetta sold Taylor’s old label to Scooter Braun in June of 2019, which resulted
in Taylor publicly speaking out against Scooter and Scott for blindsiding her and pretty much
robbing her of her life’s work.
So it’s safe to say that Taylor was less than thrilled after news broke that Scooter
now sold her entire catalogue.
She took to Twitter to update Swifties, writing, “Been getting a lot of questions about the
recent sale of my old masters.
I hope this clears things up.”
Along with the tweet, Taylor shared two screenshots, one of which is a note that she wrote, the
other being a letter she penned to the private equity group who purchased her catalogue.
Taylor started off the letter to her fans by writing quote, “I wanted to check in
and update you guys.
As you know, for the past year I’ve been actively trying to regain ownership of my
master recordings.
With that goal in mind, my team attempted to enter into negotiations with Scooter Braun.”
In the letter, Taylor continued to reveal that Scooter’s team expected her to sign
an ironclad NDA that would ultimately silence her and stop her from sharing her truth.
In true Taylor form, with the advice of her legal team, she denied signing the NDA.
She went on to say that after refusing to sign the NDA, she received a letter from the
private equity company, which is called Shamrock Holdings.
She continued saying quote, “A few weeks ago my team received a letter from a private
equity company called Shamrock Holdings, letting us know that they had bought 100% of my music,
videos, and album art from Scooter Braun.”
Unfortunately for Taylor, this is the second time that her music has been sold without
her knowledge.
She continued, saying quote, “The letter told me that they wanted to reach out before
the sale to let me know, but that Scooter Braun had required that they make no contact
with me or my team, or the deal would be off.”
And although Shamrock Holdings wanted to work with Taylor, she ultimately denied that opportunity,
because Scooter would still profit from her work.
But the letter also contained some good news, as Taylor revealed that she was finally able
to begin re-recording her old music in what’s been a quote, “both exciting and creatively
fulfilling” process.
She also revealed that she has plenty of surprises in store, which makes my little Swifty heart
skip a beat!
And Taylor’s letter to Shamrock Holdings was in response to them reaching out to her.
On October 28th, which is when the letter was sent out, Taylor thanked them for reaching
out to her.
She expressed her initial excitement in working with people who quote, “value art and understand
how much my life’s work means to me.”
But Taylor went on to say that she wouldn’t be able to work with them as long as Scooter
is still profiting from her assets.
She did, however, say quote, “I wish this could have had a better outcome and please
do let me know if your firm is ever completely independent from Scooter Braun and his associates.”
And Taylor, being the true queen that she is, was very transparent in her letter to
the company, further stating that she will be moving forward with her original re-recording
schedule, and that she is well aware that the new recordings will directly impact the
value of her old catalogue.
Taylor ended the letter by writing quote, “This is my only way of regaining the sense
of pride I once had when hearing songs from my first six albums and also allowing my fans
to listen to those albums without feelings of guilt for benefiting Scooter.”
Unsurprisingly, the story began trending on Twitter, and Swifties rallied around their
queen to show their undying support.
One fan replied to Taylor’s original tweet, writing, “your music is priceless—it has
molded, shaped, and changed our lives forever.
I’m so sorry that a man has tried to tarnish that, but I can’t wait to fall in love with
your music all over again with the re-recordings.”
Another fan tweeted, “can businessmen stop exploiting & trying to profit off arts they
ain't a part of!? & also can people stop siding with businessmen especially when you've never
created art bc you'll never understand artists' strong desire to own the arts they created.
We love you taylor.”
And this fan pointed out that ‘We Love You Taylor’ began trending, writing, “and
just like that we are trending! we love you taylor.”
Ahh, the power of Swifties!
But now I want to know what you think!
Will Scooter Braun respond to Taylor’s message?
And which album are you most excited to hear Taylor re-record?
Let me know your thoughts in the comment section down below.
After that, click right over here for another Clevver Music video.
Thanks for watching, I’m your host Sussan Mourad, you can find me on Instagram @Sussan_Mourad,
bye guys!