The music mogul has been embroiled in a dispute with the singer for years.
Music mogul Scooter Braun took to Instagram late Tuesday to snark about Taylor Swift.
Braun posted that he “finally” watched the Max documentary “Taylor Swift vs Scooter Braun: Bad Blood,” which details his long-standing feud with the singer and asks if Swift is “bravely standing up for artistry” or if Braun has been “unfairly framed” in their spat. Braun also reacted to a news article about Swift hosting a group of famous friends, including Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, at her Rhode Island home this past weekend, writing, “How was I not invited to this?!?” alongside the hashtag “#laughalittle.”
Braun and Swift’s dispute dates back to 2019, when Braun’s Ithaca Holdings acquired the label Big Machine Records, giving him the rights to Swift’s first six studio records.
Swift wrote on Tumblr at the time that she’d “pleaded” for the chance to own her music but ultimately wasn’t able to do so. She said she’d learned about Braun’s buying her music at the same time as the public.
“All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years,” Swift said of Braun, alleging that he pushed his clients to antagonize her online.
“Now Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy,” she said. “Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.”
Braun’s then-wife pushed back on Swift’s allegations, saying that Braun was “anything but a bully” and that Swift had “passed” on the opportunity to own the masters to her albums.
Since then, Swift has continued to call out Braun in her public remarks and even seemed to do so in her music.
In November 2020, news broke that Braun had sold Swift’s masters to a private equity company called Shamrock. Swift wrote on social media at the time that she’d tried to negotiate with Braun to buy her music from him, but that his team wanted her to sign an “ironclad” nondisclosure agreement to not speak negatively about him in the future.
“He would never even quote my team a price,” she wrote. “These master recordings were not for sale to me.”
She also said that Shamrock had reached out to her, leading Swift to learn that Braun would still profit off her music following the company’s purchase. Swift said that although she was “hopeful” about partnering with Shamrock, Braun’s participation was a “non-starter” for her, adding that not working with Shamrock was a “sacrifice” she had to make to keep Braun out of her life.
In response, Shamrock said that “We fully respect and support her decision and, while we hoped to formally partner, we also knew this was a possible outcome that we considered.”
