Taylor Swift is speaking out after her former label, Big Machine Records, was sold to talent manager Scooter Braun for $300 million. Swift split from the label in November 2018, but Big Machine Records still owns the music catalog for her first six albums. In a Tumblr blog post published June 30, Swift called the sale to Braun her "worst case scenario" and said she had received "incessant, manipulative bullying" from him "for years."
"For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work," Swift started her blog post, after allegedly finding out about the label's transition of ownership when the news went public. "Instead I 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, [Big Machine Records founder] Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future. I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past. Music I wrote on my bedroom floor and videos I dreamed up and paid for from the money I earned playing in bars, then clubs, then arenas, then stadiums."
"I learned about Scooter Braun's purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world," she continued. "All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I've received at his hands for years."