Latest news with #BigMachine
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Inside Taylor Swift's Catalog Sales Boost After Masters Buy Back
Swifties are going all out as they can finally consume Taylor Swift's original six Big Machine albums again following the master recordings buyback. Last weekend, the singer-songwriter announced the big news that she has regained ownership of all her work. Besides celebrating the massive milestone, what this meant to the fans was that they could consume the original studio albums again. This, in turn, led to a huge sales and streaming boost for Swift's catalog. Taylor Swift's fans are celebrating her masters buyback in the best way possible — by re-consuming all her music, including the original Big Machine studio albums. During the time the 35-year-old songstress did not have ownership of her works, she re-recorded and released the 'Taylor's Versions' of four of the six titles. This came after Scooter Braun sold Swift's music to Shamrock Holdings in 2020. However, the pop star has now officially bought back the master recordings. On May 30, the singer announced her big career update with a touching letter. Following that, the artist's catalog saw a remarkable boost in streaming and sales. Variety reported that, according to preliminary data from Luminate, the pop sensation's entire catalog was streamed 30.64 million times on Friday. This marks a whopping 55.1% increase in her catalog streams. This jump included the six studio albums released by Big Machine as well as everything she put out since 2019 — her subsequent albums and the re-recordings. Meanwhile, Spotify also shared streaming figures with The Hollywood Reporter. They revealed that streams on all of the original versions at least doubled on Friday, following the announcement. It was in comparison to the albums' average daily streams from April 1 through May 29. The digital music service noted that streams for 'Speak Now' rose 430% globally, resulting in the biggest individual spike. Interestingly, the pop star's debut album 'Taylor Swift' and 2017's 'Reputation' — the titles that don't have a 'Taylor's Version' — also saw a boost. The records came in the second and third place, respectively, with streams jumping 220% and 175%. In contrast, 'Fearless,' 'Red,' and '1989' rose 160%, 150%, and 110%, respectively. The figures are especially remarkable for an artist who has no fresh music out at the moment. The post Inside Taylor Swift's Catalog Sales Boost After Masters Buy Back appeared first on Reality Tea.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Taylor Swift now owns all of her music outright. What does that mean for ‘Reputation (Taylor's Version)'?
Taylor Swift now owns all of her own music, after years of fighting to gain ownership of her entire catalog. She shared a letter on her website explaining that she was able to purchase the rights to all of her music, music videos and concert films. 'To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,' she wrote. 'To my fans, you know how important this has been to me — so much so that I meticulously re-recorded and released 4 of my albums, calling them Taylor's Version." Swift knew that fans would especially care about her sixth album and wonder what was happening with the 'Taylor's Version' of the album. So she addressed in the letter what will happen next with the two albums that she hasn't released rerecorded versions of yet — 'Reputation (Taylor's Version)' and her debut album. 'Those 2 albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about. But if it happens, it won't be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have. It will just be a celebration now.' She also explained that she hasn't finished rerecording 'Reputation (Taylor's Version)' and might not finish it. She did say she would likely still release the unreleased 'Vault' tracks from that album. 'I know, I know. What about Rep TV? Full transparency. I haven't even re-recorded a quarter of it,' Swift wrote. 'The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it. 'All that defiance, that longing to understood while feeling purposely misunderstood, that desperate hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief. To be perfectly honest, it's the one album in those first 6 that I thought couldn't be improved upon by redoing it. Not the music, or photos, or videos. So I kept putting it off. There will be a time (if you're into the idea) for the unreleased Vault tracks from that album to hatch.' In 2019, Swift expressed frustrations about not being able to gain ownership of her entire music catalog after a dispute with Big Machine records. She left Big Machine records in 2018 for a deal with Universal Music Group's Republic Records. The next year, Big Machine and the label's founder Scott Borchetta sold her masters to Ithaca Holdings. In a Tumblr post, she shared her anger about the deal, saying that she has 'pleaded for a chance' to buy her own work for years but was instead '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,' according to Time magazine. The music artist rejected the offer, and also condemned the sale of her masters to Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings. In response to Swift's Tumblr post, Borchetta wrote on Big Machine's website, 'Taylor had every chance in the world to own not just her master recordings, but every video, photograph, everything associated to her career. She chose to leave.' In 2020, investment firm Shamrock Capital acquired the rights to Swift's original six albums. She said in a social media post that she found out about the sale after receiving a letter from Shamrock Holdings 'letting us know they had bought 100% of my music, videos, and album art from Scooter Braun. This was the second time my music had been sold without my knowledge.' On Friday, she announced that she was able to purchase the entire library and rights from Shamrock Capital to now own all of her own music. Shortly after announcing her frustrations about not being able to gain ownership of her music in 2019, Swift announced plans to rerecord her first six albums and release them for her fans. Here are the albums that she rerecorded: 'Fearless (Taylor's Version),' April 9, 2021 'Red (Taylor's Version),' Nov. 12, 2021 'Speak Now (Taylor's Version),' July 7, 2023 '1989 (Taylor's Version),' Oct. 27, 2023 She expressed pride in being a part of the conversation in music ownership. 'I'm extremely heartened by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry among artists and fans,' she wrote. 'Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this fight, I'm reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen.'
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
After Taylor Swift Called Scooter Braun Her 'Nemesis,' He Has Said That He Genuinely Thought She'd Want To Work With Him When He Bought Her Masters
It's no secret that Taylor Swift has long considered Scooter Braun her 'nemesis,' with Scooter being Kanye West's manager during the rapper's infamous 2016 beef with the singer. Kevin Mazur /for The Recording Academy, Jemal Countess / Getty Images fo Anti-Defamation League If you need reminding, the feud resulted in Taylor being branded a 'snake' across social media and led to her retreating from the public eye for almost an entire year. At the peak of her downfall, Justin Bieber even posted a screenshot from a FaceTime call with laughing Scooter and Kanye to his Instagram page alongside the goading caption: 'Taylor swift what up." So, it's pretty unsurprising that when Taylor's former manager Scott Borchetta sold his record label, Big Machine Records, to Scooter's company, Ithaca Holdings, for $300 million back in 2019, Taylor wasn't exactly happy about it. For reference, this deal meant that Scooter would profit from the sales and use of all of the music that Taylor released through Big Machine during her 10-year contract with them, which included her first six albums. Taylor addressed the situation in a lengthy Tumblr post at the time, where she said that she didn't sign a new contract with Big Machine because she knew that Scott was planning to sell. She also revealed that she rejected a new contract even though it offered her the opportunity to 'earn' the rights to one old album for every new one she released. Taylor then said that Scott selling to Scooter was her 'worst case scenario' as she called out the 'incessant, manipulative bullying' she'd received at Scooter's hands over the years. Taylor added that Scooter had 'stripped' her of her life's work that she 'wasn't given the opportunity to buy.' 'When I left my masters in Scott's hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter,' she wrote in the post. 'Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words 'Scooter Braun' escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to.' Related: Here's Why People Are Raising Their Eyebrows Over Chris Pratt's Post About The Fatal Shooting Of His 'Parks And Recreation' Costar Jonathan Joss Scooter has previously admitted that when he acquired Big Machine he assumed that he would 'be in business' with all of the artists that it covered, saying during an appearance on NPR's The Limits podcast: '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.' I made that assumption with people that I didn't know." "I didn't appreciate how that all went down. I thought it was unfair," he added at the time. "But I also understand, from the other side, they probably felt it was unfair, too." And in a new interview for Steven Bartlett's Diary of a CEO podcast, Scooter opened up some more about Taylor specifically as he admitted that he thought she would be enthusiastic about working with him despite his connections to Kanye and Justin. Related: 21 Times Celebrities Revealed Wildly Juicy, Shady, Or Even Disturbing Things In Interviews 'When I bought Big Machine, I thought I was going to work with all the artists on [it]. I thought it was going to be an exciting thing,' Scooter began. 'Taylor, she and I had only met three or four times. And one of the times, years earlier, it was really a great engagement; she invited me to her private party, she respected me.' 'In between that time since I'd seen her last, I started managing Kanye West, I managed Justin Bieber. I knew she didn't get along with them,' he continued. 'This is where my arrogance came in — I had a feeling she probably didn't like me cause I managed them, but I thought that once this announcement happened, she would talk to me, see who I am, and we would work together.' Scooter told Steven that he was set to call Taylor to discuss their future when her Tumblr post went live, leaving him 'shocked.' However, he also insisted that the experience gave him a newfound empathy for the people he does work with, saying: 'I'd always say: 'Yeah, I understand', but I never knew what it was like to be on the global stage like that.' "I never knew what criticism like that felt like,' Scooter continued. 'And like I told you, the biggest gift that I got from that was understanding that all the praise I had received up until that moment was not deserved, and all the hate I got after that moment was not deserved, because none of these people knew me. She didn't know me." As it happens, Scooter ended up selling Taylor's catalog, including all associated videos and artwork, to Shamrock Holdings for more than $300 million in October 2020, just over a year after he bought Big Machine. The following month, Taylor issued a statement revealing that her and Scooter's respective teams had been in negotiations for her to regain ownership of the masters, but she backed out when his team allegedly asked her to sign an 'ironclad NDA' stating that she would never say another word about Scooter 'unless it was positive.' Taylor went on to say that she was 'open' to partner with Shamrock when they initially reached out to her, but was left dismayed when she learned that the terms of Scooter's sale meant that his company would continue to profit from her work. 'As soon as we started communication with Shamrock, I learned that under their terms Scooter Braun will continue to profit off my old musical catalog for many years,' she wrote. 'I was hopeful and open to the possibility of a partnership with Shamrock, but Scooter's participation is a non-starter for me.' As you probably know, this entire mess led to Taylor rerecording her first six albums — complete with brand new tracks 'from the vault' — in order to have ownership of her music. And Taylor only had her self-titled debut and 2017 album Reputation left to re-release when she announced at the end of last month that she'd bought the rights to the original master recordings from Shamrock for a reported $360 million. What do you make of Scooter's expectation to work with Taylor? Let me know in the comments below! More on this Kelly Clarkson Just Addressed That Iconic 2019 Tweet Advising Taylor Swift To Rerecord Her Old Albums After Scooter Braun Bought Her MastersStephanie Soteriou · June 23, 2023 Taylor Swift Seemingly Sings About Being Vindicated In Her Scooter Braun Feud On 'The Tortured Poets Department'Stephanie Soteriou · April 26, 2024 A Taylor Swift Fan Shared Their Theory That The Chorus Of "Karma" References Scooter Braun's Most Prominent Artists, And They Might Be Onto SomethingStephanie Soteriou · Aug. 23, 2023 Taylor Swift Has Spent 16 Years Subtly Telling Us Super Intimate Details About Other Celebrities In Her Music. Here's Everything That We've Learned So Soteriou · Oct. 21, 2022 Also in Celebrity: Chrissy Teigen Posted The Results Of Her Hairline Lowering Surgery, And Ouch Also in Celebrity: 18 Celebrities Who Called Out Other Celebs On Social Media For Bad, Problematic, Or Just Plain Mean Behavior Also in Celebrity: Here Are 16 Actors Who Saved Their Skin By Turning Down Roles In Movies That People Notoriously Hated
Time of India
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Scooter Braun opens up about career choices; says he 'feels guilty' and talks about how it was working with 'a lot of young artists'
Scooter Braun , who formerly worked in the entertainment industry as an artist manager, opened up about his career in the past few years. He cited that he felt 'guilty' while managing young artists and even touched on the subject of his and Taylor Swift 's feud as well. Scooter Braun opens up about being an artist manager The former manager opened up about his profession managing artists in the past years during an interview with Diary of a CEO. Braun talked about how he had to work with a lot of fresh and young artists during his time and how "guilty" he felt doing so. He also talked about how these young artists had to manage in the industry and had to go through the ordeal of 'being judged by the whole world at a very young age.' 'At this age, I feel a lot of guilt because I worked with so many young artists. I hadn't taken the time to look at myself or do the therapy myself until I was older, so I didn't understand at 25, 27, or 30 years old that they were coming from very unique backgrounds with their stuff with their own families and their childhoods, growing up this way and being seen by the whole world and being judged by the whole world at a very young age," he continued. Braun on 'young stardom struggles' Scooter, who has managed the likes of Justin Bieber , Ariana Grande , and Taylor Swift, detailed the concept of "young stardom." He shared how much pressure young people have to go through at a young age due to this and how when humans start worshipping other humans, it changes something in an individual. 'I think human beings are not made to be worshipped. I think we're made to serve, and I think that when we worship human beings, it changes something within us; it messes us up a little bit. "That's not what we're built for, and I think it can be very confusing," he elaborated. He also detailed how the experience of working at such a stage at a young age can also have a massive effect on an individual altogether. He stated, "I think being able to transcend the childhood of people cheering your name and everything else at that level and get to a place where the artists I've worked with are where they are in healthy relationships and with their families and still working through stuff but having a human experience, I think it's a testament to their strength, and I think that's part of it. ' Braun also addressed his feud with Taylor Swift Recently, Taylor Swift announced through her social media account that she has managed to strike a huge deal to ensure that all of her music is back in her ownership. This had been the ending of a long-standing feud between Swift and Braun when the latter purchased the record label she worked with. Braun also opened up about the incident and shared his side of the story. He stated that 'When I bought Big Machine, I thought I was going to work with all the artists on Big Machine. I thought it was going to be, like, an exciting thing. I knew that Taylor; she and I had only met three or four times, and one of the times it was years earlier, and it was a really great engagement. She invited me to a private party, and we respected each other. We had a great engagement in between that time." While recalling his reaction on finding out that Swift called his owning her catalog her "worst nightmare." He shared during the interview that 'I was just shocked." 'It's been five or six years; I don't need to go back into it, but what I can tell you is everything in life is a gift. Having that experience allows me to have empathy for the people I worked with, to whom I would always say, 'Yeah, I understand,' but I never knew what it was like to be on the global stage like that. "I never knew what criticism felt like," the former manager stated.
Buzz Feed
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Scooter Braun Thought Taylor Swift Would Work With Him
It's no secret that Taylor Swift has long considered Scooter Braun her 'nemesis,' with Scooter being Kanye West's manager during the rapper's infamous 2016 beef with the singer. If you need reminding, the feud resulted in Taylor being branded a 'snake' across social media and led to her retreating from the public eye for almost an entire year. At the peak of her downfall, Justin Bieber even posted a screenshot from a FaceTime call with laughing Scooter and Kanye to his Instagram page alongside the goading caption: 'Taylor swift what up." So, it's pretty unsurprising that when Taylor's former manager Scott Borchetta sold his record label, Big Machine Records, to Scooter's company, Ithaca Holdings, for $300 million back in 2019, Taylor wasn't exactly happy about it. For reference, this deal meant that Scooter would profit from the sales and use of all of the music that Taylor released through Big Machine during her 10-year contract with them, which included her first six albums. Taylor addressed the situation in a lengthy Tumblr post at the time, where she said that she didn't sign a new contract with Big Machine because she knew that Scott was planning to sell. She also revealed that she rejected a new contract even though it offered her the opportunity to 'earn' the rights to one old album for every new one she released. Taylor then said that Scott selling to Scooter was her 'worst case scenario' as she called out the 'incessant, manipulative bullying' she'd received at Scooter's hands over the years. Taylor added that Scooter had 'stripped' her of her life's work that she 'wasn't given the opportunity to buy.' 'When I left my masters in Scott's hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter,' she wrote in the post. 'Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words 'Scooter Braun' escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to.' Scooter has previously admitted that when he acquired Big Machine he assumed that he would 'be in business' with all of the artists that it covered, saying during an appearance on NPR's The Limit podcast: '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.' I made that assumption with people that I didn't know." "I didn't appreciate how that all went down. I thought it was unfair," he added at the time. "But I also understand, from the other side, they probably felt it was unfair, too." And in a new interview for Steven Bartlett's Diary of a CEO podcast, Scooter opened up some more about Taylor specifically as he admitted that he thought she would be enthusiastic about working with him despite his connections to Kanye and Justin. 'When I bought Big Machine, I thought I was going to work with all the artists on [it]. I thought it was going to be an exciting thing,' Scooter began. 'Taylor, she and I had only met three or four times. And one of the times, years earlier, it was really a great engagement; she invited me to her private party, she respected me.' 'In between that time since I'd seen her last, I started managing Kanye West, I managed Justin Bieber. I knew she didn't get along with them,' he continued. 'This is where my arrogance came in — I had a feeling she probably didn't like me cause I managed them, but I thought that once this announcement happened, she would talk to me, see who I am, and we would work together.' Scooter told Steven that he was set to call Taylor to discuss their future when her Tumblr post went live, leaving him 'shocked.'However, he also insisted that the experience gave him a newfound empathy for the people he does work with, saying: 'I'd always say: 'Yeah, I understand', but I never knew what it was like to be on the global stage like that.'"I never knew what criticism like that felt like,' Scooter continued. 'And like I told you, the biggest gift that I got from that was understanding that all the praise I had received up until that moment was not deserved, and all the hate I got after that moment was not deserved, because none of these people knew me. She didn't know me." As it happens, Scooter ended up selling Taylor's catalog, including all associated videos and artwork, to Shamrock Holdings for more than $300 million in October 2020, just over a year after he bought Big Machine. The following month, Taylor issued a statement revealing that her and Scooter's respective teams had been in negotiations for her to regain ownership of the masters, but she backed out when his team allegedly asked her to sign an 'ironclad NDA' stating that she would never say another word about Scooter 'unless it was positive.' Taylor went on to say that she was 'open' to partner with Shamrock when they initially reached out to her, but was left dismayed when she learned that the terms of Scooter's sale meant that his company would continue to profit from her work. 'As soon as we started communication with Shamrock, I learned that under their terms Scooter Braun will continue to profit off my old musical catalog for many years,' she wrote. 'I was hopeful and open to the possibility of a partnership with Shamrock, but Scooter's participation is a non-starter for me.'As you probably know, this entire mess led to Taylor rerecording her first six albums — complete with brand new tracks 'from the vault' — in order to have ownership of her music. And Taylor only had her self-titled debut and 2016 album Reputation left to re-release when she announced at the end of last month that she'd bought the rights to the original master recordings from Shamrock for a reported $360 million. What do you make of Scooter's expectation to work with Taylor? Let me know in the comments below!
