Swift Vs. Braun

We all know her, Taylor Swift, the famous country turned pop sensation behind the classics jams we grew up with, but what you may not know is that Love Story, You Belong With Me, Our Song, and We are Never Getting Back Together, along with many others that Swift wrote herself, do not currently belong to her. According to the contract she signed when she was only 15, the master recordings for Swift's first six albums are legally owned by Big Machine Records, and when Swift left the company in 2018 for a deal at Universal Music Group, which allowed her the ownership rights to her masters, she was forced to leave the albums behind. In the battle for her masters, the original recordings that all copies are made from,  Big Machine did offer Swift a ẅay out: If she signed back with the record company, she would be given the opportunity to earn back her own albums, gaining the rights to one of the original six every time she released a new album. Understandably insulted by the offer, she walked away from the deal and focused instead on the future of her music. That is, until her music was sold to Scooter Braun.

In her emotional, tell-all Tumblr post, Taylor Swift revealed ¨Any time Scott Borchetta (the owner of Big Machine Records) heard the name ´Scooter Braun´ escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to.¨ But who exactly is Scooter Braun? And what did he do to make Swift cry on multiple occasions? Scooter Braun is the music agent who has aquired Big Machine Records, for a cool $300 million, as well as friend of numerous A-list celebrities. Scrolling down his Instagram, you can see flashes of Karlie Kloss, Ariana Grande, and Justin Bieber, just to name a few. Though he seems to be loved by his clients and friends, Swift claims in her post that she has suffered from ¨incessant, manipulitive bullying… at his hands for years.¨  Now, if you´re like me at all, you´re probably thinking, I read a lot of Cosmo and InStyle and never in my life have I heard of this man¨, chances are you have and didn't realize it. Remember when Kanye West realeased his ¨Famous¨ music video, in which a wax figurine of Taylor Swift and many other celebrities were laid naked in a bed together,? And how Taylor denied any involvement or knowledge and rebuked Kanye for the use of her image without her consent? And then later Kim Kardashian released a recorded phone call, in which Taylor agreed to allow Kanye to use her image? Well Scooter Braun, who manages Kanye, appeared in a screenshot of a facetime with Kanye and Justin Bieber, another client, which Bieber later posted with the caption ¨Taylor Swift what up¨. Swift claims that Braun ¨Got his two clients together to bully me online about it¨, and states that ¨Scooter has stripped me of my life's work, that I wasn't given an opportunity to buy.¨ 

In what seems to be turning into a pop music fued, many other musicians have taken sides and voiced their opinion on the matter. In their Instagram story, HAIM, a rock band made up of the Haim sisters, expressed their support of Swift, writing ¨ We support you @taylorswift, This is the dark shit in our industry that no one sees.¨ Todrick Hall, a singer who was recently featured in Swift´s video for ¨You Need to Calm Down¨, came forward to defend Swift as well, tweeting ¨I truly hope justice is served and that my friend’s music will fall into the hands of a better human.¨ Hall also accused Braun of being racist and homophobic in a series of tweets, which caught the eye of Demi Lovato, who has since responded and defended Braun. 

While Braun himself has not responded to all the drama, his wife, Yael Cohen Braun, posted a series of screenshots in which she addresses the drama, saying ¨You were given the opportunity to own your masters, you passed.¨ and continues to  ask Swift, ¨Who are you to talk about bullying? The world has watched you collect and drop friends like wilted flowers.¨ Yael Braun continues to refute Swift´s claims and ends her open letter asking Swift to ¨control [her] fans¨, and encourages Swift to reach out to the Brauns personally to settle the matter, signing off. "Tumblr can't fix this, a phone call can." 

Despite all the accusations and pointing fingers, the issue underneath it all, is that musicians shouldn't have to fight for the right to own the music that they "wrote on [their] bedroom floor". It's not uncommon for young artists starting out to sign away the rights to their songs, just for a chance to be hired and recorded by a major record company. It's so common that most wouldn't blink an eye at Swift's complaints against Big Machine Records, considering she has still made millions off her albums, but it is still unbelievably unfair. While Taylor is not a starving artist, we shouldn't dismiss her speaking out against the company as a cry for attention or a greedy money grab. Whether or not Swift's allegations against Braun are true, we should  be glad that Swift is shining a light on the unfair treatment of young musicians and will hopefully affect change and make it easier for artists to maintain their owning rights in the future.