Taylor Swift’s lawyer has insisted the singer was never offered the chance to purchase the masters for her first six albums, despite label boss Scott Borchetta’s claims to the contrary.
Over the weekend, Taylor voiced her upset when it was announced that Scooter Braun – who manages artists like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande – had bought her old label Big Machine, and therefore now owned the recordings of her first six albums, up to and including 2017’s Reputation.
The singer claimed that she had only been offered the chance to own the masters if she signed another contract with Big Machine, earning them back one at a time for each new album she recorded, while claiming she’d also been “bullied” by Scooter for a number of years.
While Big Machine CEO Scott Borchetta later claimed that Taylor, in fact, had been offered “every chance in the world” to own her old recordings, she has since responded to refute this, via a lawyer.
In a statement, he said: “Scott Borchetta never gave Taylor Swift an opportunity to purchase her masters, or the label, outright with a cheque in the way he is now apparently doing for others.”
Scott also dismissed Taylor’s suggestion that she had found out the news that Scooter had acquired Big Machine at the same time as the rest of the world, claiming he texted her the night before the announcement to make sure she heard it first.
Her rep has since dismissed this, telling People: “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.”
Although Scooter is yet to respond to Taylor’s initial comments, he has been publicly defended by singers like Justin Bieber and Demi Lovato, both of whom he manages.
