After
Taylor Swift called out Scooter Braun and her former record label
Big Machine over the sale of her master recordings, the company’s founder,
Scott Borchetta, responded with a fiery letter of his own.
Swift, 29, said on Sunday that she was devastated that her master recordings had been sold off to Braun when he purchased Swift’s former label in a $300 million deal.
“Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy,” Swift wrote in the lengthy post. “Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.
“For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work,” Swift wrote. “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.”
She also claimed she learned of the deal “as it was announced to the world,” but Borchetta claimed Swift misrepresented the truth in her letter.
Borchetta said that Swift’s father was a shareholder in Big Machine, and therefore found out about the deal on June 25. He also said he “personally texted” the “Me!” songstress on the evening of Saturday, June 29, so that Swift would hear the news prior to the rest of the world.
“I guess it might somehow be possible that her dad Scott, 13 Management lawyer Jay Schaudies (who represented Scott Swift on the shareholder calls) or 13 Management executive and Big Machine LLC shareholder Frank Bell (who was on the shareholder calls) didn’t say anything to Taylor over the prior 5 days,” Borchetta wrote. “I guess it’s possible that she might not have seen my text. But, I truly doubt that she ‘woke up to the news when everyone else did.'”
Borchetta also addressed Swift’s claims against Braun. Borchetta was aware of Swift’s issues with Braun’s longtime client Justin Bieber but maintained that “Scooter was never anything but positive about Taylor.”
“[Braun] called me directly about Manchester to see if Taylor would participate (she declined),” Borchetta wrote. “He called me directly to see if Taylor wanted to participate in the Parkland March (she declined). Scooter has always been and will continue to be a supporter and honest custodian for Taylor and her music.”
Borchetta included a friendly text he claims to have received from Swift on Nov. 19, 2018, that explained she signed with another label.
“I honestly truly cherish everything you and I have built together and I plan on saying so in my announcement of the new deal,” she allegedly wrote. “What we accomplished together will be a lasting legacy and a case study on excellent partnerships, and may it continue. I still view you as a partner and friend and I hope you feel the same. Sending you a hug and my most sincere gratitude.”
He also copied the text he claims to have sent to her breaking the news of the deal with Braun: “I wanted to pass along to you the same courtesy that you passed along to me in regard to my future.
“Tomorrow morning (Sunday, June 30th) at 10a central, the Wall Street Journal will announce that I am entering into a merger/acquisition with Scooter Braun and Ithaca Holdings. This move will give us more pop culture super-power than ever before and I’m so excited about the future.
“I want you to know that I will continue to be the proud custodian of your previous works and will continue to keep you and your team abreast of all future plans for releases of you [sic] work.”
Swift hasn’t publicly responded to any comments, including Bieber’s, since initially posting her letter on Tumblr.