Scooter Braun, the owner of music talent management agency SB Records, has officially announced his retirement from music management. This called for a celebration for Taylor Swift fans, who joined the online frenzy on X. The long-running dispute between Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun made headlines a couple of years ago, over the ownership of the masters of her first six albums. (Also read: Who is Scooter Braun? Music mogul that Taylor Swift has Bad Blood with)
Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun feud
On Monday, Scooter shared a carousel post with a text message announcing his retirement. “23 years. That’s how long I have been a music manager. After 23 years, this chapter as a music manager has come to an end.” Over the years, he has managed the likes of Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato and J Balvin among others.
However, it was his controversial and public feud with Taylor Swift where he acquired the rights to Swift’s first six albums, that attracted sufficient media coverage. Taylor had penned a scathing post over the sale of her masters to Scooter, and called him an “incessant, manipulative bully”. This also informed the decision of the pop singer to release re-recorded versions of her six albums in order to take control over her music.
Fan reactions
Reacting to Scooter’s retirement, a fan wrote: “Reputation Taylor’s version announcement tonight!” A second fan wrote, “I haven’t seen the TL this united by someone’s downfall since Queen Elizabeth’s passing like this man is universally hated.” A comment read, “And I’ll say GOOD RIDDANCE!” “Karma’s a relaxing thought!” read another comment.
Meanwhile, last month Variety reported that Taylor’s feud with music producer Scooter will be explored in the docuseries commissioned by Warner Bros. Discovery UK and Ireland. Tentatively titled Taylor Swift vs. Scooter Braun: Bad Blood, the two hour-long episodes, which will premiere in June, will feature legal experts and journalists, as well as people close to Taylor and Scooter to delve into the factors that culminated into Scooter’s $300 million purchase of her music catalogue from Big Machine Records’ Scott Borchetta in 2019.
