Taylor Swift Claims Scooter Braun & Scott Borchetta Won’t Let Her Perform Her Old Hits At AMAs Or In Netflix Docu

Taylor Swift Claims Scooter Braun & Scott Borchetta Won’t Let Her Perform Her Old Hits At AMAs Or In Netflix Docu

UPDATE: Taylor Swift’s former record label, Big Machine Records, which was discovered by Scott Borchetta and recently acquired by Scooter Braun, has issued a statement in response, as well as Swift’s team.

Big Machine Records said in the statement,

As Taylor Swift’s partner for over a decade, we were shocked to see her Tumblr statements yesterday based on false information. At no point did we say Taylor could not perform on the AMAs or block her Netflix special. In fact, we do not have the right to keep her from performing live anywhere. Since Taylor’s decision to leave Big Machine last fall, we have continued to honor all of her requests to license her catalog to third parties as she promotes her current record in which we do not financially participate.

The truth is, Taylor has admitted to contractually owing millions of dollars and multiple assets to our company, which is responsible for 120 hardworking employees who helped build her career. We have worked diligently to have a conversation about these matters with Taylor and her team to productively move forward. We started to see progress over the past two weeks and were optimistic as recently as yesterday that this may get resolved. However, despite our persistent efforts to find a private and mutually satisfactory solution, Taylor made a unilateral decision last night to enlist her fanbase in a calculated manner that greatly affects the safety of our employees and their families.

Taylor, the narrative you have created does not exist. All we ask is to have a direct and honest conversation. When that happens, you will see there is nothing but respect, kindness and support waiting for you on the other side. To date, not one of the invitations to speak with us and work through this has been accepted. Rumors fester in the absence of communication. Let’s not have that continue here. We share the collective goal of giving your fans the entertainment they both want and deserve.

–Big Machine Label Group

Her team then responded:

The truth is, on October 28, 2019 at 5:17 p.m. the Vice President, Rights Management and Business Affairs from Big Machine Label Group sent Taylor Swift’s team the following:

“Please be advised that BMLG will not agree to issue licenses for existing recordings or waivers of its re-recording restrictions in connection with these two projects: The Netflix documentary and The Alibaba “Double Eleven” event.”

To avoid an argument over rights, Taylor performed three songs off her new album Lover at the Double Eleven event as it was clear that Big Machine Label Group felt any televised performance of catalog songs violated her agreement. In addition, yesterday Scott Borchetta, CEO and founder of Big Machine Label Group, flatly denied the request for both American Music Awards and Netflix. Please notice in Big Machine’s statement, they never actually deny either claim Taylor said last night in her post.

Lastly, Big Machine is trying to deflect and make this about money by saying she owes them but, an independent, professional auditor has determined that Big Machine owes Taylor $7.9 million dollars of unpaid royalties over several years.

Another insider also explained that the record label doesn’t have the authority to stop Swift from performing any songs live, including her old ones that are at the center of the drmaa.

An executive for the label said,

“Taylor Swift can 100% perform all of her catalog, past and present, on the AMAs. Our confusion with her statement is that we have no legal right to stop this and have never tried. She and her team both know this.”

“We are excited for all her fans, as all of the confusion has now been cleared up, and we now welcome Taylor to perform all of her hits on the AMAs.”

Taylor Swift’s drama with Scooter Braun has resurfaced yet again.

Now, after purchasing the masters to some of her biggest songs (read about that here), Scotter Braun and Scott Borchetta are allegedly stopping Taylor Swift from performing those songs as she’s honored with the Artist of the Decade at the American Music Awards.

She lashed out at Borchetta and Braun on Instagram Thursday (Nov. 14).

“Guys – it’s been announced recently that the American Music Awards will be honoring me with the Artist of the Decade Award at this year’s ceremony. I’ve been planning to perform a medley of my hits throughout the decade on the show. scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun have now said that I’m not allowed to perform my old songs on television because they claim that would be re-recording my music before I’m allowed to next year.”

She went on to announce that she landed a Netflix documentary about her career and life, but won’t be able to feature her old songs on there either.

“Additionally – and this isn’t the way I had planned on telling you this news – Netflix has created a documentary about my life for the past few years. Scott and Scooter have declined the use of my older music or performance footage for this project, even though there is no mention of either of them or Big Machine Records anywhere in the film.”

She added that both Brochetta said they’ll only let her use the songs if she promises not to re-record new versions of them in 2020, and if she stops talking about him and Braun. 

Swift went on to explain that she wanted to reveal what was happening to her to possibly prevent other artists from going down the same road.

“The message being sent to me is very clear. Basically, be a good little girl and shut up. Or you’ll be punished. This is WRONG. Neither of these men had a hand in the writing of those songs. They did nothing to create the relationship I have with my fans.”

She then asked fans to tell Braun and Borchetta that they’re wrong. She also requested help from The Carlyle Group, which had a hand in selling her music to Braun and Borchetta. 

While Braun (who manages stars like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato and Tori Kelly) hasn’t responded, some celebrities have jumped to Swift’s defense.

Are you Team Taylor on this one? Tell us in the comments.