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Buzz Feed
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Scooter Braun Denies Taylor Swift Song Is About Him
It's fair to say that since 2019, Scooter Braun's name has been most prominently associated with Taylor Swift, with the singer publicly putting him on blast after his company, Ithaca Holdings, bought her old record label, Big Machine Records, from her former manager, Scott Borchetta, for $300 million. If you need reminding, the deal meant that Scooter would profit from the sales and use of all of the music that Taylor released through Big Machine during her 10-year contract with them, which included her first six albums. Prior to this point, Scooter had managed both Justin Bieber and Kanye West, with Taylor embroiled in a pretty infamous feud with the latter for several years. The feud had reignited in 2016, and at the peak of her downfall, Justin posted a screenshot of a FaceTime call with laughing Scooter and Kanye to his Instagram page alongside the goading caption: 'Taylor swift what up."Which is why it's pretty unsurprising that Taylor wasn't exactly thrilled that Scooter now owned her life's work, and she addressed this in a lengthy Tumblr post shortly after news of the Big Machine sale went public. In the statement, Taylor said she didn't sign a new contract with Big Machine because she knew Scott was planning to sell. She also revealed that she rejected a new contract even though it offered her the opportunity to 'earn' the rights to one old album for every new one she released. The star then said that Scott selling to Scooter was her 'worst case scenario' as she called out the 'incessant, manipulative bullying' she'd received at Scooter's hands over the years. Taylor went on to allege that Scooter had 'stripped' her of her life's work that she 'wasn't given the opportunity to buy.' '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,' she wrote. 'Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words 'Scooter Braun' escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to.'Scooter has addressed the situation several times over the years, and previously said that he thought it was 'unfair' how everything went down so publicly, and that he thought he'd have the opportunity to 'be in business' with Taylor. The music exec ended up selling Taylor's catalog, including all associated videos and artwork, to Shamrock Holdings for over $300 million in October 2020 — just over a year after he bought Big following month, Taylor issued a statement revealing that she and Scooter's respective teams had been in negotiations for her to regain ownership of the masters, but she backed out when his team allegedly asked her to sign an 'ironclad NDA' stating she would never say another word about Scooter 'unless it was positive.'She went on to explain that while she had been 'open' to partner with Shamrock when they initially reached out to her, she was left dismayed to learn that the terms of Scooter's sale meant that his company would continue to profit from her work. 'As soon as we started communication with Shamrock, I learned that under their terms Scooter Braun will continue to profit off my old musical catalog for many years,' Taylor wrote. 'I was hopeful and open to the possibility of a partnership with Shamrock, but Scooter's participation is a non-starter for me.'As you probably know, this whole situation led to Taylor rerecording her first six albums — complete with brand new tracks 'from the vault' — in order to have ownership of her music, and she only had her self-titled debut and 2016 album Reputation left to re-release when she announced earlier this year that she'd bought the rights to the original master recordings from Shamrock for a reported $360 million. And Scooter has now opened up some more about this whole experience during a recent appearance on the Question Everything podcast, where he even shut down a years-old fan theory that one of Taylor's most brutal revenge songs, 'Vigilante Shit,' is about him. Speaking to host Danielle Robay, he admitted that it feels like a 'waste of time' to rehash the six-year-old situation all over again, before doubling down on his past claims that Taylor's team had actually been in negotiation to buy her masters from him when she published that original Tumblr post. 'When Taylor says that she wasn't offered the masters, the reason I was under NDA was because we were in negotiations to sell it back to her,' he claimed. 'I just choose to believe her that maybe they [her team] didn't tell her.''Taylor and I have only met three times in our life, and I think at that point we hadn't seen each other in two, three years,' Scooter went on. 'I was managing people she wasn't a fan of, and she probably saw my name come up and was like: 'I don't like those people, so I don't like him.' But we never had an opportunity to sit in front of each other and actually have a conversation to this day.'He also shut down Taylor's claim that he wanted her masters for 'nefarious reasons,' saying: 'I don't have any nefarious reasons… That was a major risk for me at the time, to buy that company. I couldn't afford to do it for nefarious reasons, like, just from a financial standpoint, that doesn't make any sense. I needed her to be successful for me to take that risk. There's nothing nefarious about it.''I just wish that it didn't take such a toll on my family,' Scooter then said. 'It was a very tough time for us, because there's a lot of people out there that don't understand, and they hear this stuff and they take it to a level that's really not OK.' Scooter was married to Yael Cohen when all of this was going down, with the two splitting in 2021. The couple share three children: 10-year-old Jagger, 9-year-old Levi, and 7-year-old Hart, and Scooter revealed that somebody said something 'very mean' to Jagger because of the messy Taylor situation. 'My kids were really young then,' he said when asked if he'd discussed what went down with them. 'But my oldest is 10, and someone said something very mean to him at school… But the beautiful thing is, I didn't have to talk that much because my kids know who their dad is.' One year after the breakdown of Scooter and Yael's marriage, Taylor released her 2022 album Midnights, which includes the brutal revenge song 'Vigilante Shit' that many interpreted to be about Scooter. 'She needed cold, hard proof, so I gave her some / She had the envelope, where you think she got it from?' Taylor sings. 'Now she gets the house, gets the kids, gets the pride / Picture me thick as thieves with your ex-wife / And she looks so pretty / Driving in your Benz / Lately she's been dressing for revenge.''Did you ever think these [lyrics] were about you?' Danielle bluntly asked Scooter on the podcast, and he immediately insisted that they weren't. 'No, because I talk to Yael every day,' he retorted. 'My ex-wife is one of my best friends, so me and my ex-wife laugh about that stuff. We don't even call each other ex. That's like my partner, you know? That's the mother of my children. That is my family for life.' 'I have a tattoo on my finger that says: 'Same team' after my divorce, because she and I are same team for life,' he continued. 'It's what we say to each other. So, no, I never thought that was about us, she never thought it was about us, and everyone else kind of feeding into the fire… Great strategy move, but, like, no.' Elsewhere in the podcast, Scooter insisted that everybody involved in the masters mess ended up winning in the end, saying: 'She could have bought them back and that could have been part of the victory… But I choose to think her team maybe didn't tell her. But when they turned it down, we ended up selling it to someone else because she didn't want us to have it. We did very well in that sale because we bought it at a really great price, and the value of the masters went up.' Scooter explained that Taylor's re-records actually resulted in the original recordings getting more listeners because people would play them to compare the tracks, profiting Shamrock. 'She did incredibly well and basically had the biggest moment of her career, reinvigorating her career with each one,' he said. 'It was brilliant on her part. But also, each time she released one, you saw a spike in the original catalog.''So, funny enough, everyone involved in the saga, from a business standpoint, won,' Scooter concluded. 'She's the biggest she's ever been, biggest artist of all time. We did really well with the asset. The people who bought the asset did really well because of those spikes.'He then added: 'I wish kids and people out there understood that, like, there are scenarios in life where there doesn't need to be an oppressor and oppressed, there are scenarios in life where it's a misunderstanding, yet everyone can succeed.' What do you make of Scooter's latest comments? Let me know down below!


USA Today
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Conner Smith speaks out as he faces charges for crash that killed a 77-year-old woman
Smith, a Nashville-born country performer, was involved in a fatal pedestrian incident on June 8, 2025. Country singer Conner Smith is addressing his involvement in a crash that killed a 77-year-old Nashville woman, which has also led to a misdemeanor citation for Smith. "Four weeks ago, I was involved in a tragic vehicle accident that resulted in the loss of a life. Not a day has gone by that I haven't grieved, prayed, and mourned for Ms. Dobbins and her family," he wrote in a July 11 Instagram post. "My heart is broken in a way I've never experienced, and I still struggle to fully process the weight of it all." Smith made a request to his 205,000 followers: "I ask that you continue to lift the Dobbins family up in prayer by name, asking for God's peace to surround them each day." The Nashville-born artist performed at CMA Fest the day before the fatal incident, and he has not gone on stage since. "I have always found that making music and playing shows is a place of healing for me – but for this moment, it was important for me to take time away," he wrote. As he concluded the post, he continued, "I'm thankful to serve a God who is near to the brokenhearted, and I have leaned on Him every step of the way. Through tragedy, I have learned that God is more faithful than I could have ever known before." Smith has been affiliated with Big Machine's The Valory Music Co. label for five years and released his debut album, "Smoky Mountains," in January 2024. That recording contained a gold-selling top-20 radio hit, "Creek Will Rise." Smith was slated to be a special guest on dates of Luke Bryan's 2025 Country Song Came On Tour. What we know: Police release details of alleged fatal car accident Conner Smith receives misdemeanor citation for fatal pedestrian crash The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department issued a misdemeanor citation to Smith following the June 8 crash that killed Music City resident Dorothy "Dot" Dobbins, 77. Smith is scheduled to appear for booking on the citation on Aug. 7. "Conner is incredibly grateful to the MNPD for their time and efforts to carefully investigate this tragic accident and has continued to cooperate at all times," Smith's lawyer, Worrick G Robinson IV, said in a July 11 statement. "His thoughts remain with Ms. Dobbins' family, and he remains committed to honoring her memory with compassion by supporting efforts to improve pedestrian safety and help prevent future tragedies." Police have said there was no evidence that Smith was impaired or distracted while driving at the time. Nashville police said Dobbins was crossing at 3rd Avenue North near Van Buren Street in a marked crosswalk when Smith, who was driving his Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, struck the woman. Smith exited his vehicle after crashing into Dobbins to render aid until emergency personnel responded, per police. Dobbins was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she died. Nashville neighbors advocate for safer crosswalk On June 12, Dobbins' neighbors spent six hours at the crosswalk where the incident occurred, escorting every passing pedestrian and cyclist as they crossed the street. The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported that the residents were carrying signs urging motorists to yield. Joe Nuzzo, the president of the Historic Germantown Neighborhood Association, said the neighbors who organized the crosswalk event wanted to not "let Dot's death go in vain." A few actions have been taken to make crossing Third Avenue safer. New signage on the road identifies the crosswalk, and foliage from the roadside that blocked a driver's view of incoming pedestrians has also been removed. Metro Council Member Jacob Kupin, who represents Germantown in District 19, addressed Dobbins' death during a special council meeting the day before. "This is an area where we've been advocating for additional support," Kupin told council members on June 10. "I know (the Nashville Department of Transportation is) working on that, and I know I don't have to tell the folks in this room that we have so many areas in our district and our city that are working well and so many more that need work." Contributing: KiMi Robinson, USA TODAY
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Inside Taylor Swift's Catalog Sales Boost After Masters Buy Back
Swifties are going all out as they can finally consume Taylor Swift's original six Big Machine albums again following the master recordings buyback. Last weekend, the singer-songwriter announced the big news that she has regained ownership of all her work. Besides celebrating the massive milestone, what this meant to the fans was that they could consume the original studio albums again. This, in turn, led to a huge sales and streaming boost for Swift's catalog. Taylor Swift's fans are celebrating her masters buyback in the best way possible — by re-consuming all her music, including the original Big Machine studio albums. During the time the 35-year-old songstress did not have ownership of her works, she re-recorded and released the 'Taylor's Versions' of four of the six titles. This came after Scooter Braun sold Swift's music to Shamrock Holdings in 2020. However, the pop star has now officially bought back the master recordings. On May 30, the singer announced her big career update with a touching letter. Following that, the artist's catalog saw a remarkable boost in streaming and sales. Variety reported that, according to preliminary data from Luminate, the pop sensation's entire catalog was streamed 30.64 million times on Friday. This marks a whopping 55.1% increase in her catalog streams. This jump included the six studio albums released by Big Machine as well as everything she put out since 2019 — her subsequent albums and the re-recordings. Meanwhile, Spotify also shared streaming figures with The Hollywood Reporter. They revealed that streams on all of the original versions at least doubled on Friday, following the announcement. It was in comparison to the albums' average daily streams from April 1 through May 29. The digital music service noted that streams for 'Speak Now' rose 430% globally, resulting in the biggest individual spike. Interestingly, the pop star's debut album 'Taylor Swift' and 2017's 'Reputation' — the titles that don't have a 'Taylor's Version' — also saw a boost. The records came in the second and third place, respectively, with streams jumping 220% and 175%. In contrast, 'Fearless,' 'Red,' and '1989' rose 160%, 150%, and 110%, respectively. The figures are especially remarkable for an artist who has no fresh music out at the moment. The post Inside Taylor Swift's Catalog Sales Boost After Masters Buy Back appeared first on Reality Tea.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Taylor Swift now owns all of her music outright. What does that mean for ‘Reputation (Taylor's Version)'?
Taylor Swift now owns all of her own music, after years of fighting to gain ownership of her entire catalog. She shared a letter on her website explaining that she was able to purchase the rights to all of her music, music videos and concert films. 'To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,' she wrote. 'To my fans, you know how important this has been to me — so much so that I meticulously re-recorded and released 4 of my albums, calling them Taylor's Version." Swift knew that fans would especially care about her sixth album and wonder what was happening with the 'Taylor's Version' of the album. So she addressed in the letter what will happen next with the two albums that she hasn't released rerecorded versions of yet — 'Reputation (Taylor's Version)' and her debut album. 'Those 2 albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about. But if it happens, it won't be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have. It will just be a celebration now.' She also explained that she hasn't finished rerecording 'Reputation (Taylor's Version)' and might not finish it. She did say she would likely still release the unreleased 'Vault' tracks from that album. 'I know, I know. What about Rep TV? Full transparency. I haven't even re-recorded a quarter of it,' Swift wrote. 'The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it. 'All that defiance, that longing to understood while feeling purposely misunderstood, that desperate hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief. To be perfectly honest, it's the one album in those first 6 that I thought couldn't be improved upon by redoing it. Not the music, or photos, or videos. So I kept putting it off. There will be a time (if you're into the idea) for the unreleased Vault tracks from that album to hatch.' In 2019, Swift expressed frustrations about not being able to gain ownership of her entire music catalog after a dispute with Big Machine records. She left Big Machine records in 2018 for a deal with Universal Music Group's Republic Records. The next year, Big Machine and the label's founder Scott Borchetta sold her masters to Ithaca Holdings. In a Tumblr post, she shared her anger about the deal, saying that she has 'pleaded for a chance' to buy her own work for years but was instead '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,' according to Time magazine. The music artist rejected the offer, and also condemned the sale of her masters to Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings. In response to Swift's Tumblr post, Borchetta wrote on Big Machine's website, 'Taylor had every chance in the world to own not just her master recordings, but every video, photograph, everything associated to her career. She chose to leave.' In 2020, investment firm Shamrock Capital acquired the rights to Swift's original six albums. She said in a social media post that she found out about the sale after receiving a letter from Shamrock Holdings 'letting us know they had bought 100% of my music, videos, and album art from Scooter Braun. This was the second time my music had been sold without my knowledge.' On Friday, she announced that she was able to purchase the entire library and rights from Shamrock Capital to now own all of her own music. Shortly after announcing her frustrations about not being able to gain ownership of her music in 2019, Swift announced plans to rerecord her first six albums and release them for her fans. Here are the albums that she rerecorded: 'Fearless (Taylor's Version),' April 9, 2021 'Red (Taylor's Version),' Nov. 12, 2021 'Speak Now (Taylor's Version),' July 7, 2023 '1989 (Taylor's Version),' Oct. 27, 2023 She expressed pride in being a part of the conversation in music ownership. 'I'm extremely heartened by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry among artists and fans,' she wrote. 'Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this fight, I'm reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen.'
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
After Taylor Swift Called Scooter Braun Her 'Nemesis,' He Has Said That He Genuinely Thought She'd Want To Work With Him When He Bought Her Masters
It's no secret that Taylor Swift has long considered Scooter Braun her 'nemesis,' with Scooter being Kanye West's manager during the rapper's infamous 2016 beef with the singer. Kevin Mazur /for The Recording Academy, Jemal Countess / Getty Images fo Anti-Defamation League If you need reminding, the feud resulted in Taylor being branded a 'snake' across social media and led to her retreating from the public eye for almost an entire year. At the peak of her downfall, Justin Bieber even posted a screenshot from a FaceTime call with laughing Scooter and Kanye to his Instagram page alongside the goading caption: 'Taylor swift what up." So, it's pretty unsurprising that when Taylor's former manager Scott Borchetta sold his record label, Big Machine Records, to Scooter's company, Ithaca Holdings, for $300 million back in 2019, Taylor wasn't exactly happy about it. For reference, this deal meant that Scooter would profit from the sales and use of all of the music that Taylor released through Big Machine during her 10-year contract with them, which included her first six albums. Taylor addressed the situation in a lengthy Tumblr post at the time, where she said that she didn't sign a new contract with Big Machine because she knew that Scott was planning to sell. She also revealed that she rejected a new contract even though it offered her the opportunity to 'earn' the rights to one old album for every new one she released. Taylor then said that Scott selling to Scooter was her 'worst case scenario' as she called out the 'incessant, manipulative bullying' she'd received at Scooter's hands over the years. Taylor added that Scooter had 'stripped' her of her life's work that she 'wasn't given the opportunity to buy.' '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,' she wrote in the post. 'Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words 'Scooter Braun' escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to.' Related: Here's Why People Are Raising Their Eyebrows Over Chris Pratt's Post About The Fatal Shooting Of His 'Parks And Recreation' Costar Jonathan Joss Scooter has previously admitted that when he acquired Big Machine he assumed that he would 'be in business' with all of the artists that it covered, saying during an appearance on NPR's The Limits podcast: 'The regret I have there is that I made the assumption that everyone, once the deal was done, was going to have a conversation with me, see my intent, see my character and say, 'Great, let's be in business together.' I made that assumption with people that I didn't know." "I didn't appreciate how that all went down. I thought it was unfair," he added at the time. "But I also understand, from the other side, they probably felt it was unfair, too." And in a new interview for Steven Bartlett's Diary of a CEO podcast, Scooter opened up some more about Taylor specifically as he admitted that he thought she would be enthusiastic about working with him despite his connections to Kanye and Justin. Related: 21 Times Celebrities Revealed Wildly Juicy, Shady, Or Even Disturbing Things In Interviews 'When I bought Big Machine, I thought I was going to work with all the artists on [it]. I thought it was going to be an exciting thing,' Scooter began. 'Taylor, she and I had only met three or four times. And one of the times, years earlier, it was really a great engagement; she invited me to her private party, she respected me.' 'In between that time since I'd seen her last, I started managing Kanye West, I managed Justin Bieber. I knew she didn't get along with them,' he continued. 'This is where my arrogance came in — I had a feeling she probably didn't like me cause I managed them, but I thought that once this announcement happened, she would talk to me, see who I am, and we would work together.' Scooter told Steven that he was set to call Taylor to discuss their future when her Tumblr post went live, leaving him 'shocked.' However, he also insisted that the experience gave him a newfound empathy for the people he does work with, saying: 'I'd always say: 'Yeah, I understand', but I never knew what it was like to be on the global stage like that.' "I never knew what criticism like that felt like,' Scooter continued. 'And like I told you, the biggest gift that I got from that was understanding that all the praise I had received up until that moment was not deserved, and all the hate I got after that moment was not deserved, because none of these people knew me. She didn't know me." As it happens, Scooter ended up selling Taylor's catalog, including all associated videos and artwork, to Shamrock Holdings for more than $300 million in October 2020, just over a year after he bought Big Machine. The following month, Taylor issued a statement revealing that her and Scooter's respective teams had been in negotiations for her to regain ownership of the masters, but she backed out when his team allegedly asked her to sign an 'ironclad NDA' stating that she would never say another word about Scooter 'unless it was positive.' Taylor went on to say that she was 'open' to partner with Shamrock when they initially reached out to her, but was left dismayed when she learned that the terms of Scooter's sale meant that his company would continue to profit from her work. 'As soon as we started communication with Shamrock, I learned that under their terms Scooter Braun will continue to profit off my old musical catalog for many years,' she wrote. 'I was hopeful and open to the possibility of a partnership with Shamrock, but Scooter's participation is a non-starter for me.' As you probably know, this entire mess led to Taylor rerecording her first six albums — complete with brand new tracks 'from the vault' — in order to have ownership of her music. And Taylor only had her self-titled debut and 2017 album Reputation left to re-release when she announced at the end of last month that she'd bought the rights to the original master recordings from Shamrock for a reported $360 million. What do you make of Scooter's expectation to work with Taylor? Let me know in the comments below! More on this Kelly Clarkson Just Addressed That Iconic 2019 Tweet Advising Taylor Swift To Rerecord Her Old Albums After Scooter Braun Bought Her MastersStephanie Soteriou · June 23, 2023 Taylor Swift Seemingly Sings About Being Vindicated In Her Scooter Braun Feud On 'The Tortured Poets Department'Stephanie Soteriou · April 26, 2024 A Taylor Swift Fan Shared Their Theory That The Chorus Of "Karma" References Scooter Braun's Most Prominent Artists, And They Might Be Onto SomethingStephanie Soteriou · Aug. 23, 2023 Taylor Swift Has Spent 16 Years Subtly Telling Us Super Intimate Details About Other Celebrities In Her Music. Here's Everything That We've Learned So Soteriou · Oct. 21, 2022 Also in Celebrity: Chrissy Teigen Posted The Results Of Her Hairline Lowering Surgery, And Ouch Also in Celebrity: 18 Celebrities Who Called Out Other Celebs On Social Media For Bad, Problematic, Or Just Plain Mean Behavior Also in Celebrity: Here Are 16 Actors Who Saved Their Skin By Turning Down Roles In Movies That People Notoriously Hated