Taylor Swift’s long-standing feud with music executive Scooter Braun over the rights to her music is one of the most infamous in the entertainment industry, and it’s resulted in the huge undertaking of the artist re-recording “Taylor’s Versions” of her first six albums. However, as Swift continues thrilling fans on her epic Eras Tour, and amid the announcement that Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is coming soon, new information regarding the 2019 sale of her catalog has come to light. It turns out that Swift's father got quite a big payday when Braun’s label purchased Big Machine Label Group, with Scott Swift earning a cool $15.1 million off the deal.
Music Business Worldwide has looked back at the July 2019 deal in which Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings bought Big Machine Label Group from Scott Borchetta for $330 million, which included the masters to Taylor Swift’s first six albums. Scott Swift owned about 5 percent of Borchetta’s label, and the source confirmed that a payment of $15.1 million was made to Taylor’s father in August 2019. However, a representative for the artist says her father didn’t have any prior knowledge of the deal that she said blind-sided her, as he’d intentionally opted out of a shareholder’s meeting 48 hours prior to the sale. The rep said:
On June 25, there was a shareholder phone call that Scott Swift did not participate in due to a very strict NDA that bound all shareholders and prohibited any discussion at all without risk of severe penalty. Her dad did not join that call because he did not want to be required to withhold any information from his own daughter. Taylor found out from the news articles when she woke up before seeing any text from Scott Borchetta, and he did not call her in advance.
Scott Swift knew that he’d have to sign an NDA if he called into the shareholder’s gathering, which would have prevented him from warning his daughter about the impending sale of her work. It seems that, according to Taylor Swift’s rep, she and her dad were both in the dark about the details of the sale discussed at the meeting.
While her masters are no doubt worth more than $15 million, that’s still a pretty big chunk of change, considering all the turmoil it caused for the “Anti-Hero” singer.
Scooter Braun did not hold onto her music for very long. In November 2020, it was reported that he’d sold the masters to an investment fund for over $300 million. Taylor Swift said at the time that Shamrock Holdings had reached out to let her know they’d acquired the rights to her catalog, and while she was initially hopeful for the “possibility of a partnership” with the new owner, she learned that Braun would continue to profit from her music for years to come, and his participation was a deal-breaker for Swift.
Scott Swift’s role in the controversial 2019 sale is an interesting tidbit in this kerfuffle, but Taylor Swift continues to move on with her life. In addition to releasing four new albums — Midnights, folklore, evermore and Lover — she’s also re-released Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version) with Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) on the way, and fans are digging deep into the clues the singer is dropping about when 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is coming amongst Swift’s long list of upcoming projects.
