On June 17, Scooter Braun posted an extremely long statement explaining why he’d chosen to retire from music management. Braun had pivoted to focusing on his role as HYBE America CEO after becoming one of the most successful managers in music, with Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and Demi Lovato headlining his roster at one point. Braun’s legacy is stained, at least partially, by a years-long feud with Taylor Swift.
On June 21, Max premiered a two-part documentary entitled Taylor Swift vs. Scooter Braun: Bad Blood exploring the implications of Braun owning Swift’s masters as a byproduct of buying Big Machine Music Group in 2019. The acquisition covered Swift’s first six albums, leading to her revolutionary re-recorded releases.
Anyway, Braun finally got around to watching Taylor Swift vs. Scooter Braun: Bad Blood and wrote on his Instagram Story, “I finally watched it.” Braun’s very next Instagram Story post was a screenshot of TMZ’s exclusive on Swift’s recently thrown birthday party for Blake Lively in Rhode Island. “How was I not invited to this?!? #LaughALittle,” Braun wrote.
Predictably, Braun’s joke did not go over well online. Almost assuredly, Swift was not amused.
“With the Scooter thing, my masters were being sold to someone who actively wanted them for nefarious reasons, in my opinion,” Swift told Time last year. “I was so knocked on my ass by the sale of my music, and to whom it was sold. I was like, ‘Oh, they got me beat now. This is it. I don’t know what to do.’”
In November 2020, Swift posted an in-depth update on her attempts to “regain ownership of my master recordings.”
“My team attempted to enter into negotiations with Scooter Braun,” she alleged at the time. “Scooter’s team wanted me to sign an ironclad NDA stating I would never say another word about Scooter Braun unless it was positive, before we could even look at the financial records of BMLG (which is always the first step in a purchase of this nature). So, I would have to sign a document that would silence me forever before I could even have a chance to bid on my own work.”
Since then, Swift has released Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version), Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), and 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Each re-recorded album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.