Latest news with #ShamrockHoldings
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Scooter Braun fiercely slammed as he claims his feud with Taylor Swift helped her career
Taylor Swift fans have fiercely slammed Scooter Braun after he seemed to claim that his drama with the singer lead to the 'biggest moment of her career.' The music mogul, 44, sat down on Danielle Robay's Question Everything podcast this week, during which he reflected on his purchase and ultimate sale of the Cruel Summer songstress' masters. Scooter famously bought the rights to Taylor's old songs when he acquired her former record label in 2019 for $300 million. At the time, the hitmaker, 35, said she was blindsided by the news, and accused Scooter of 'incessant, manipulative bullying.' Taylor went on to re-recorded many of her old albums, and Scooter eventually sold the songs to an investment firm called Shamrock Holdings for $405 million. The singer then bought the masters back in May for a deal reportedly worth $360 million. Now, Scooter has spoke about the situation in detail, and he alleged that the feud ultimately made her more successful. 'She did incredibly well and basically had the biggest moment of her career, reinvigorating her career with each one,' he said of her re-recorded albums. 'It was brilliant on her part. But also, each time she released one, you saw a spike in the original catalog.' Despite Taylor's initial and very public upset over the news that he had bought her old songs, Scooter insisted that 'everyone won' in the end. 'Funny enough, everyone involved in the saga, from a business standpoint, won,' he continued. '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. '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.' Elsewhere during the interview, Scooter spoke about the impact that their fight and the backlash that followed had on his family - and addressed rumors that Taylor's popular revenge hit Vigilante S**t was about him. 'I just wish that it didn't take such a toll on my family,' Scooter said. 'It was a very tough time for us. '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. Despite Taylor's initial and very public upset over the news that he had bought her old songs, Scooter insisted that 'everyone won' in the end 'My kids were really young then. 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.' Scooter and his wife Yael Cohen - who share three kids together - split in 2021 amidst the immense scrutiny. One year after they divorced, Taylor dropped her song Vigilante S**t, which was all about Taylor getting back at someone who wronged her. In it, she mentioned a couple who had ended their marriage after she sent the woman 'cold hard proof' that her husband was cheating - and many people theorized it was about Scooter and Yael. 'She needed cold, hard proof, so I gave her some / She had the envelope, where you think she got it from?' the lyrics read. '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 asked the businessman during their sit-down. 'No, because I talk to Yael every day,' Scooter insisted. '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. '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.' Afterwards, Taylor's fans discussed Scooter's comments in droves on Instagram and X, and many bashed him for rehashing the drama and hinting that he helped her career. 'Why is the smallest man who ever lived so obsessed with her?' one user asked, quoting another one of her famous songs, called Smallest Man Who Ever Lived. Afterwards, Taylor's fans discussed Scooter's comments in droves on Instagram and X, and many bashed him for rehashing the drama and hinting that he helped her career 'OMG shut up. We are tired,' someone else scathed. 'Is he obsessed or is he obsessed?' asked another person. 'She lives rent free in his little head,' a fourth comment read. 'Man takes credit for woman's success a tale as old as time,' a fifth said. 'Yes, she did. And she won. But not because of Scooter, but in spite of him. And even now, he only appears in the news because of her name. Leave her alone,' urged a different user.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Scooter Braun Calls Taylor Swift the ‘Biggest Artist of All Time,' Addresses Whether ‘Vigilante S–t' Is About Him
Scooter Braun is once again addressing his feud with Taylor Swift. While speaking to Danielle Robay on the Thursday (July 17) episode of her Question Everything podcast, the former music manager opened up about the misunderstandings he thinks took place in his famous feud with the pop star before addressing whether her song 'Vigilante Shit' is about him. When the topic of his conflict with Swift — which sprung out of Braun acquiring her catalog in his 2019 purchase of Big Machine Records — first came up, the businessman said frankly, 'I think going backwards and revisiting this is a waste of time.' More from Billboard Taylor Swift & Scooter Braun's Feud: A Timeline K-pop Rules as Netflix's 'KPop Demon Hunters' Soundtrack Holds ARIA No. 1 Max McNown Expands 'Night Diving' With 11 New Songs: Stream It Now Even so, Braun went on to rehash his perspective on what transpired with Swift, who was outspoken in her opposition to the SB Projects founder's purchase of her masters from the start. At the time, she accused him of 'incessant, manipulative bullying' in a Tumblr post, and when Braun later sold Swift's catalog to Shamrock Holdings in 2020, the 14-time Grammy winner claimed that he 'would never even quote my team a price' without her first signing an NDA, which Swift refused. 'The only thing I didn't appreciate is it was so public without an understanding of what was actually going on,' Braun reflected in the interview. '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. I just choose to believe her that maybe [her team] didn't tell her.' 'For me, the only thing that I really regret is that it's easy to [see someone as] a monster if you never meet them,' he continued. 'Taylor and I have only met three times in our life. I think at that point we hadn't seen each other in two, three years. 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 have a conversation, to this day.' At the time of the catalog purchase, Braun — who has since retired from management — represented Justin Bieber and Kanye West, both of whom Swift has clashed with in the past. In her 2019 Tumblr post responding to the initial sale of her masters, she shared a screenshot of an Instagram post from Bieber featuring Braun and West with the caption, 'Taylor swift what's up.' Though he wishes things had played out differently, Braun says he's still heartened by the fact that 'everyone in the end won.' 'When [Swift] turned it down, we ended up selling it to someone else, because she didn't want us to have it,' he told Robay. 'We did very well in that sale, because we bought it at a really great price, and the value of the masters went up.' Billboard has reached out to Swift's rep for comment. As Braun pointed out, the value of the musician's old catalog heightened as she embarked on her Taylor's Version series, re-recording four of her first six albums to reclaim ownership of her work. The project manifested in the record-breaking success of her Eras Tour, which led to her becoming a billionaire and eventually having the chance to finally purchase her masters from Shamrock this past May. 'She did incredibly well and basically had the biggest moment of her career,' Braun praised Swift, calling her the 'biggest artist of all time.' 'It was brilliant on her part. But also, each time she released [a re-recorded album], you saw a spike in the original catalog, and that's how we were able to tell, 'OK, if she doesn't want them, this is still a really great asset.'' That said, Swift seemingly hasn't softened in her opinions on Braun since the beginning of their feud. In her December 2023 TIME Person of the Year interview, she doubled down on her stance that the mogul wanted her catalog for 'nefarious reasons' — something he said on Question Everything doesn't make 'any sense' from a 'financial standpoint' — and fans have long assumed that Swift has written about the situation on songs such as Folklore's 'My Tears Ricochet' and Evermore's 'It's Time to Go.' As for one such song — 'Vigilante Shit,' on which Swift sings, 'Picture me thick as thieves with your ex-wife' — Braun laughed when asked whether he thinks it's about him. The entrepreneur was previously married to Yael Cohen, but he filed for divorce in 2021. 'No, 'cause I talk to Yael every day,' Braun told Robay, brushing off the possibility of his marriage inspiring the Midnights track. 'My ex-wife is one of my best friends. Me and my ex-wife laugh about that stuff — we don't even call each other 'ex.' That's like my partner. That's the mother of my children. That is my family for life. So no, I never thought that was about us. Great strategy move, but nah.' Watch Braun's full interview on Question Everything above. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart Solve the daily Crossword
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.
Cosmopolitan
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Scooter Braun Chooses to See His Drama With Taylor Swift 'As a Gift'
After a 6-year battle with Scott Borchetta, Scooter Braun, Big Machine Label Group, and Shamrock Holdings to repurchase her music, Taylor Swift officially owns all her masters (as well as the Taylor's Version albums she's dropped over the years). While the Grammy winner has been vocal about the saga since 2019, Scooter Braun is now sharing his side of the story. During a recent appearance on the Diary of a CEO podcast, Scooter—who is known for once managing artists like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and Demi Lovato—got candid about his drama with Taylor and where he stands with it now. When his company, Ithaca Holdings, purchased Big Machine Label Group in 2019, Scooter shared that he was 'excited' to have the opportunity to work with Taylor, whom he had met less than a handful of times. 'I thought I was going to work with all the artists on Big Machine. I thought it was gonna be an exciting thing. I knew that Taylor — she and I had only met three times, I think in my life, three or four times — one of the times, it was years earlier, it was really a great engagement,' he explained. 'In between that time since I'd seen her last, I started managing Kanye West. I managed Justin Bieber,' he added. 'I knew she didn't get along with them. I had a feeling, this is where my arrogance came in. I had a feeling she probably didn't like me because 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 revealed that he asked the former owner of Big Machine Label Group, Scott Borchetta, for Taylor's number when they made the deal. As he made his way through the label's roster and called artists to connect with them, Taylor published a letter on Tumblr explaining that she hadn't been given a chance to repurchase her masters. 'I was just shocked,' Scooter shared. 'I don't need to go back into it, but what I can tell you is everything in life is a gift. Having that experience allows me to have empathy for the people I worked with who I would 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.' He added, 'All the praise I had received up until that moment was not deserved. All the hate I got after that moment was not deserved, because none of these people knew me. The gift of pain was awareness.' As for where he stands with Taylor now? He claims he doesn't 'hold any hatred' for the pop culture icon. 'Everyone moves on,' he said. 'I choose to see it as a gift. I choose to see it as being able to have a perspective that very few people in the world have of knowing what that's like. Of feeling that on a global level.' Scooter's bombshell interview comes after Taylor revealed she bought her masters back with an emotional letter published on her website. 'To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty casual about it,' she wrote, in part. 'To my fans, you know how important this has been to me—so much so that I meticulously re-recorded and released four albums, calling them Taylor's Versions. The passionate support you showed those albums and the success you found giving The Eras Tour into why I was able to buy back my music. I can't thank you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but never owned until now. All I've ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to one day purchase my music outright.'
Business Insider
05-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
In their investment era: Swifties celebrate helping their idol reclaim her music
Tori Cummins cried when she heard that Taylor Swift had bought back the rights to her original albums. The 32-year-old estimated she's spent around $700 on Taylor's Version vinyls and merch, and it was worth every penny. "All I could think of was like, 'oh, I will keep spending money on this woman," Cummins said, adding that she'd had to explain to a non-Swiftie why she felt the pop star's victory was hers, too. "It's so easy to be a fan of hers because at no point do you really feel like you aren't getting just as much as you put in." Last week, Swift announced that she had bought back her original master recordings for a reported $360 million. In a letter announcing the news, Swift cited the support of her fans through the Taylor's Version rerecordings and the Eras Tour as the reason she was able to make the acquisition. "Not to be parasocial or anything, but it is so cool to think about the fact that we did support her all throughout this Taylor's Version journey," Allie Buckman, a 19-year-old Swiftie in Kentucky, said. For Swifties, it's a gratifying end to a yearslong battle. They've been loyally listening to re-recorded "Taylor's Version" songs and abstaining from listening to the "stolen" versions since 2019 to avoid enriching mega-manager Scooter Braun and then Shamrock Holdings, from whom Swift made the purchase last week. It's also another prescient marketing move from the megastar: Fans are joking that their spending on the Eras Tour, which for many was in the hundreds or thousands, functioned as a form of GoFundMe for Swift to make the purchase. Crystal Haryanto, who started a course on Swift at UC Berkeley and is the author of the upcoming book, "The Glory of Giving Everything," on the star's business model, said the letter Swift wrote did more than express gratitude. It "reminds fans that they have equity in the music," though not legally, of course. "From a marketing perspective, presenting this milestone as a joint effort is conducive to sales of future albums," Haryanto said. "Fans are motivated to keep listening to her music because such actions appear to have a measurable impact on Swift's well-being—the dream of any fan toward their favorite person." For Kerry Weber, a 46-year-old Swiftie in marketing who attended the Reputation tour and multiple dates of the Eras Tour, said that Swift made several "genius" marketing moves in the lead-up to the masters acquisition, such as the re-recordings and adding new sets to the tour after the wildly successful concert film was released. Weber said that the sentiment among the "haters" was that Swift milked money from her fans — something she disputes. "I got something in return is how I look at it. I got to go to London with my daughter for the first time, and that was amazing. I don't care, she can have my money just for that alone," Weber, who estimated that she spent a few thousand dollars on a London trip for the Eras Tour, said. "And if that money bought back her masters, I think it's fantastic." Haryanto said that bridging the gap with fans has always been "foundational" to Swift's branding strategy. She described it as akin to attracting repeat customers in retail — it curates customers who not only come back, but get even more satisfaction from supporting the brand as a whole. "To know that the money I spent at a concert was going to something like this and was going to this project that I think will hopefully also change things for other artists and younger artists in the future — it's a really gratifying moment," Larissa Miles, a 26-year-old Swiftie in Minnesota, said. Bridget Doyle, a 30-year-old Swiftie in Boston who previously told BI she spent $1,500 on attending the Eras Tour, said that the masters move feels like a return on investment of 20 years of being a fan. "If anything, I think it's going to make fans want to spend more because I think fans get more of a direct, like I'm investing in you making this art in order to encourage you to continue making more art that we all enjoy and love," Doyle said. The move from Swift coincides with a larger conversation over intentional spending. Americans are participating in "Tesla Takedowns" over Elon Musk's political involvement and boycotting Target over the department store's DEI retreat. While Swift's music might not seem as pressing an issue, Swifties said that they like seeing their investments serve what they see as a great purpose. "It goes to show you that boycotting and supporting causes that matter to you make a difference," Brittany Michalski, a 36-year-old Swiftie, said. "What we do matters. And even if it's so a pop star can own her music, it's going to make a difference in the music industry for people who aren't as powerful as her."
