What’s up guys, it’s Sussan Mourad with Clevver News, and just weeks after Taylor
Swift was finally able to re-record her old masters, Scooter Braun sold those masters
to an investment company, but in true Taylor fashion, she always gets the last word.
Taylor Swift fans have been eagerly waiting for the day she would be free to re-record
her own masters after Scooter Braun’s company Ithaca Holdings LLC acquired the master recordings
of her first six albums from Big Machine Label Group, Taylor’s former label.
But a fresh new twist in the Scooter/Swift saga has been set in place as Variety reported
on Monday that just days after Taylor was free to re-record her masters, Scooter has
just sold the master rights to Taylor’s albums.
As of yesterday, the deal was reportedly made with an unknown investment fund that forked
over more than the $300 million dollars Scooter initially purchased them for... which would
mean that Scooter cashed in on a pretty hefty paycheck.
Variety reported that the deal closed within the last two weeks, and that it was a “big
win” for Scooter, who already profited from the initial investment.
As many Swifties are aware, Taylor has previously spoken out about Scooter’s controversial
business transaction, calling him a “bully” and stated that he was QUOTE “the definition
of toxic male privilege in our industry.”
In a public statement via social media, Taylor added, “This just happened to me without
my approval, consultation or consent.
After I was denied the chance to purchase my music outright, my entire catalog was sold
to Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings in a deal that I’m told was funded by the Soros
family, 23 Capital and The Carlyle Group.
Yet, to this day, none of these investors have bothered to contact me or my team directly
— to perform their due diligence on their investment.
On their investment in me.”
Taylor finished her statement by saying, “The fact is that private equity enabled this man
to think, according to his own social media post, that he could ‘buy me.’
But I’m obviously not going willingly.”
Scooter responded to Taylor’s statement claiming that he had attempted to schedule
a private meeting in person last year, but nothing ever came of it.
Although Taylor will still be able to re-record her music with no legal consequences, Swifties
rushed to her support upon hearing the news of Scooter’s sale, and got “WE LOVE YOU
TAYLOR” began trending on social media.
Even artist Sara Bareilles couldn’t help but chime in, tweeting, “I will never not
feel like this is just f**king robbery.
Greed is a virus too and it's everywhere.
F**k that.
@taylorswift13 sending you love.”
But because we love a good Taylor Swift Easter egg, many others shared theories based on
Taylor’s latest Rolling Stone interview with Paul McCartney, alluding to the idea
that she may have some knowledge of the big purchase.
One fan pointed out that Tay had mentioned the number ‘300 million’ twice during
the interview when saying, “I think that learning that lesson from you taught me at
a really important stage in my career that if people want to hear ‘Love Story’ and
‘Shake It Off’ and I’ve played them 300 million times, play them the 300-millionth-and-first
time.”
Another user mentioned another portion of the interview where Taylor and Paul were talking
about using pseudonyms, “I think Taylor bought them under a pseudonym.
She’s clever like that,” while this user shared another theory that read, “I long
speculated that her stated intention to re-record was a bluff, meant to pressure them into selling.”
But as we were all warned by Taylor, herself, who would not “go willingly,” she has
since shared an update with fans on what this deal with the investment company actually
entailed and where she stands on the whole situation.
Tay shared a letter to fans on Twitter, starting off by saying that, as fans are aware, she
has been actively trying to regain ownership of her old masters for the past year.
And with that goal in mind, her team attempted to enter into negotiations with Scooter Braun.
However, while negotiating with Scooter’s team over the past year, he wanted her to
QUOTE, “...sign an ironclad NDA stating I would never say another word about Scooter
Braun unless it was positive, before we could even look at the financial records of BMLG.”
Taylor admitted that her legal team claimed that this was absolutely NOT normal to do
before Scooter would even quote her a price, Taylor said QUOTE “they’ve never even
seen an NDA like this presented unless it was to silence an assault accuser by paying
them off.”
Therefore Taylor refused to sign the NDA and said QUOTE “The master recordings were not
for sale to me.”
Tay then added that just a few weeks ago, her team received a letter from a private
equity company called Shamrock Holdings, stating that they had purchased 100% of her music,
videos, albums and artwork from Scooter.
But as communication with Shamrock continued, Taylor explained QUOTE, “I learned that
under their terms, Scooter Braun will continue to profit off my old musical catalog for many
years,” adding that, “I was hopeful and open to the possibility of a partnership with
Shamrock, but Scooter’s participation is a non-starter for me.”
Taylor then included a copy of the letter she wrote Shamrock politely declining their
offer to work with them, writing QUOTE “If I support you, as you request, I will be contributing
to these future payments to Scooter Braun and Ithaca Holdings.
I simply cannot in good conscience bring myself to be involved in benefiting Scooter Braun’s
interests directly or indirectly.”
Taylor also stated in her letter to Shamrock that she will be going forward with her original
recording schedule and will be embarking on that effort soon.
And soon has already arrived my friends, because in Tay’s Twitter statement to fans she confirmed
that she has in fact begun the process and there’s a lot to be excited about, writing
QUOTE “I have recently begun re-recording my older music and it has already proven to
be both exciting and creatively fulfilling.
I have plenty of surprises in store.
I want to thank you guys for supporting me through this ongoing saga, and I can’t wait
for you to hear what I’ve been dreaming up.”
It’s looking like the light is finally able to be seen at the end of a long dark tunnel
as Taylor continues to pave the way for other artists, especially females, to fight for
their rights and own their art, in an industry that is heavily dominated by male execs.
And so on that note, I want to leave you with Taylor’s parting words in her statement
that were quote, “I love you guys and I’m just gonna keep cruising, as they say.”
As Swifties put it best, WE LOVE YOU TAYLOR!
Keep cruising and we’ll see you on the other side of all this!
For even more good news on Taylor and her relationship with Joe Alwyn, you can click
right over here to watch another Clevver video.
Then be sure to let me know all your thoughts on Scooter’s newest business transaction
down here in the comments.
I’m your host Sussan Mourad, you can find me on Instagram @Sussan_Mourad, bye guys.