In a new interview, Scooter Bruan said he “learned an important lesson” after acquiring the rights to Taylor Swift’s studio albums back in 2019.
Scooter Braun has realized all too well that actions have consequences.
More than three years after acquiring Big Machine Music Group—and the rights to Taylor Swift‘s first six albums—the music executive hasn’t forgotten about the controversy that followed. But in a Sept. 27 interview with NPR’s Jay Williams, Scooter said he wishes he could have handled some things differently.
“I learned an important lesson,” he shared. “When I did that deal, I was under a very strict NDA with the gentleman who owned it, and I couldn’t tell any artist. I wasn’t allowed to. I wasn’t legally allowed to.”
Scooter continued, “I was excited to work with every artist on the label. So when we finalized the deal, I started making phone calls to say, ‘Hey, I’m a part of this.’ And before I could even do that—I made four phone calls; I started to do those phone calls—all hell broke loose.”
What he’s likely referring to is the moment Taylor spoke out on social media explaining why the acquisition was what she described as “my worst case scenario.”
“I learned about Scooter Braun’s purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world,” she wrote. “All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years.”
In November 2020, when Taylor said she attempted to enter into negotiations with Scooter to regain ownership of her master recordings, she accused his team of wanting her to sign an NDA that allegedly stated, “I would never say another word about Scooter Braun unless it was positive, before we could even look at the financial records of BMLG.”
In his latest interview, Scooter shared his belief that a lot of things “got lost in translation.”
“I think that when you have a conflict with someone, it’s very hard to resolve it if you’re not willing to have a conversation,” he explained. “So the regret I have there is that I made the assumption that everyone, once the deal was done, was going to have a conversation with me, see my intent, see my character and say, great, let’s be in business together. And I made that assumption with people that I didn’t know.”
