Taylor Swift was left reeling on June 30 when news broke that Justin Bieber‘s manager Scooter Braun bought Scott Borchetta‘s Big Machine Records for $300 million, thereby acquiring the masters to her first six albums. She wrote a heartbreaking Tumblr post about how deeply saddened and disturbed she was and that “I learned about Scooter Braun’s purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world. All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years.” She called it her “worst case scenario” and “Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words ‘Scooter Braun’ escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to. He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn’t want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever.”
This has caused an upswell of support for Taylor, as Katy Perry signed the Change.org petition that is asking that “There are 2 stances, the master (Big Machine Records) who owns only the file of the record and the publisher (Swift) who owns the sound, vocals and lyrics. So, she as a publisher can re-record her projects under Big Machine Records and release them as her own under Republic Records where she is both master and publisher.” The “Roar” singer in her signing wrote “I stand with Taylor. Stay strong my friend.”
Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj, Camila Cabello, Selena Gomez, Adele, and Gwen Stefani have all have reportedly unfollowed Scooter on social media after his acquisition of Taylor’s life’s work. Even his own client Ariana Grande deleted her Instagram story congratulating Scooter on the purchase after the “Me” singer wrote of her disgust that he is the new owner of the masters to all of her albums. Alessia Cara took to her Instagram stories and wrote ““hey!!!!! stop stealing from women who work hard!!!” Halsey wrote a lengthy tweet describing how Taylor was the inspiration behind why she writes all of her own music and ended with “I am standing with her” with a broken heart emoji. Taylor was so moved that she even retweeted Halsey’s message to her own Twitter page.
KATY SIGNED THE PETITION TOO, WOMEN ARE STRONGER TOGETHER YES #WeStandWithTaylor pic.twitter.com/EkBV6eGfrk
— barb 🌈 (@swiftvibesz) June 30, 2019
🦋 @taylorswift13 pic.twitter.com/1iI2tCr8my
— h (@halsey) June 30, 2019
Iggy Azalea tweeted “I think from what I can see; it’s more about the fact they didn’t even give her the opportunity to at least bid on her own masters; when she’s made it known she wanted to purchase. I can totally understand where she’s coming from.” Iggy too has unfollowed Scooter on social media. Singer Daya tweeted “f**k a man who feels entitled to the ownership of a woman’s work <3.”
Taylor’s good friend model Martha Hunt tweeted, “Taylor doesn’t deserve for someone who has constantly BULLIED her to OWN THE RIGHTS to her blood, sweat, + tears. It’s not the dark ages – artists shouldn’t be held down, and I couldn’t be prouder of my friend for standing up for what’s right. End of story. This is about protecting artists. Taylor courageously exposed a grown man who has time + time again proven his obsession with holding her down, like his reputation precedes him. He doesn’t deserve a morsel of control over the archives of her past. Sad day for music, esp considering Taylor’s generous contributions to the industry. :(.”
Singer and Taylor’s close pal Todrick Hall called Scooter “evil” and claimed that he ignored him for the six years that he was his manager. He tweeted “For those asking, I left Scooter Braun a long time ago…I am saddened by this news, but not shocked. He is an evil person who’s only concern is his wealth and feeding his disgusting ego. I know from his own mouth that he is not a Swift fan. I would normally not say anything because I’m sure Scooter will threaten me like he has before to keep me quiet, but guess what Scooter, nothing you can do to me would be worst than the 6 years of my life I can’t get back from when & I was ignored as your ‘artist.'”