Taylor Swift vs. Universal Music Group & Scooter Braun

As I mentioned above, Lover is TSwift’s first record since leaving Big Machine for Universal Music Group. This divorce got real messy real fast due to the fact that Scott Borchetta (who discovered Taylor and signed her to her first record deal) sold Big Machine to Scooter Braun, a move Taylor called “my worst case scenario.”

Here’s the background:

Braun has facilitated what Taylor calls “incessant, manipulative bullying” for years, such as “when his client, Kanye West, organized a revenge porn music video which strips my body naked.”
By purchasing Big Machine, Braun now owns the masters to everything TSwift before Reputation, which essentially equate to her rights in the music. Prince summed it up perfectly: “If you don’t own your masters, your master owns you.”
Taylor was 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…I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future.”

At the end of the day, someone with the starpower to move almost a million copies in pre-sales (meaning the album will go platinum immediately upon release) always has options.

Following advice from Kelly Clarkson, Taylor will be re-recording her entire catalog, giving her fans the opportunity to buy her music from her rather than Braun.