Taylor Swift – Lover

[Linnethia Monique]

Jul 1, 2019 12:54:52 GMT -5 nickd said:

Jul 1, 2019 7:14:11 GMT -5 Linnethia Monique said:

So y’all are unfollowing people because they liked a post about his acquisition that had ZERO mention of the Taylor masters?! What kind of hive mentality is going on with people these days? Scooter and Scott have had business arrangements throughout the years so him buying Big Machine comes as no surprise to me. Wasn’t that Who Is Fancy guy a joint artist for both Scott and Scooter years back? If we removed Taylor’s masters from this would anybody even care? It would’ve been business as usual.

Not sure what you're talking about. No-one mentioned anything about unfollowing Ariana and Ariana even deleted her comment on Scooter's acquisition of Big Machine.

Jul 1, 2019 5:42:15 GMT -5 Joe1240 said:

I would love for Taylor to get her masters back. Yes it is wrong but Scooter and Borchetta are both at fault on this one. It has been known for sometime that Borchetta was willing to sell Big Machine Records. Since Taylor moved to Republic,They have been trying to make a way to profit from old material,They are selling a rare Taylor Tim McGraw item at the moment. I agree with Taylor that her masters shouldn't be in the wrong hands. Just hope it doesn't end up like when other artists leave labels they have random Greatest Hits album releases out. It wouldn't be right on Taylor's part. I think people are just disappointed with the reaction from Kacey Musgraves and Demi Lovato. Kacey's Husband covered "All Too Well" and she went ahead and liked Scooter Braun's post.I think Taylor will make it out of this okay,She has always recovered from backlash,We are just coming from the "You Need To Calm Down" controversy and now this happened.

Jul 1, 2019 6:49:40 GMT -5 justlurkingaround said:

I don’t see backlash towards Taylor in this. If anything I see resounding support, with a few dissenters, as will always be the case in anything. I’m sure you can even find some of those dissenters in her assault case, they’re always there.

I agree that the reaction from Demi and Kacey is sad. I’ve unfollowed Kacey on both Instagram and twitter as a result. Put your money where your mouth is, Musgraves, and support women the way you say they should be supported.

This is what my post was in reference to so what are YOU talking about?

Also where did I mention Ariana? Please tell me where you drew that narrative from.

[thewp]

Jul 1, 2019 13:01:59 GMT -5 nickd said:

Jul 1, 2019 7:12:50 GMT -5 thewp said:

But, she’s trying to use it for public sympathy. And it sounded like she texted him minutes before the Universal deal was public, and he texted her 12? Hours before this news broke. Which she already knew was coming bc he Dad skipped calls so he wouldn’t know what was happening.

If her point was that she was blindsided by the news by finding out about it the morning it was announced, I'm not sure how knowing about it a few hours earlier really changes anything.

Also she wasn't blindsided by the knowledge that Scott was selling Big Machine, she already knew that as her own post stated. She was blindsided to find out that it was sold to Scooter Braun. And if her father skipped calls because it would involve an NDA that wouldn't allow him to tell her about the details of the deal (like who the buyer was) then how does that should she knew who the buyer was??

If she didn’t know because she didn’t check her phone, not sure how that’s anyones fault but hers? Per his post, he gave her more notice than she gave him when leaving so again, I’m not sure how it’s relevant-she brought it up.

[nickd]

Jul 1, 2019 13:06:29 GMT -5 Linnethia Monique said:

Jul 1, 2019 12:54:52 GMT -5 nickd said:

Not sure what you're talking about. No-one mentioned anything about unfollowing Ariana and Ariana even deleted her comment on Scooter's acquisition of Big Machine.

Jul 1, 2019 5:42:15 GMT -5 Joe1240 said:

I would love for Taylor to get her masters back. Yes it is wrong but Scooter and Borchetta are both at fault on this one. It has been known for sometime that Borchetta was willing to sell Big Machine Records. Since Taylor moved to Republic,They have been trying to make a way to profit from old material,They are selling a rare Taylor Tim McGraw item at the moment. I agree with Taylor that her masters shouldn't be in the wrong hands. Just hope it doesn't end up like when other artists leave labels they have random Greatest Hits album releases out. It wouldn't be right on Taylor's part. I think people are just disappointed with the reaction from Kacey Musgraves and Demi Lovato. Kacey's Husband covered "All Too Well" and she went ahead and liked Scooter Braun's post.I think Taylor will make it out of this okay,She has always recovered from backlash,We are just coming from the "You Need To Calm Down" controversy and now this happened.

Jul 1, 2019 6:49:40 GMT -5 justlurkingaround said:

I don’t see backlash towards Taylor in this. If anything I see resounding support, with a few dissenters, as will always be the case in anything. I’m sure you can even find some of those dissenters in her assault case, they’re always there.

I agree that the reaction from Demi and Kacey is sad. I’ve unfollowed Kacey on both Instagram and twitter as a result. Put your money where your mouth is, Musgraves, and support women the way you say they should be supported.

This is what my post was in reference to so what are YOU talking about?

Also where did I mention Ariana? Please tell me where you drew that narrative from.

Ariana is the only pop star that liked Scooter Braun's post.


Kacey liked a post from Scooter's wife that was specifically directed at Taylor for her post and Demi Lovato was responding to Taylor and Todrick's comments.

[Linnethia Monique]

Jul 1, 2019 13:21:02 GMT -5 nickd said:

Jul 1, 2019 13:06:29 GMT -5 Linnethia Monique said:

This is what my post was in reference to so what are YOU talking about?

Also where did I mention Ariana? Please tell me where you drew that narrative from.

Ariana is the only pop star that liked Scooter Braun's post.


Kacey liked a post from Scooter's wife that was specifically directed at Taylor for her post and Demi Lovato was responding to Taylor and Todrick's comments.

I made no mention of Ariana and you’re digging your heels on that. I even gave you reference into what I was referring to and you still didn’t let up. Demi’s like on the post about the acquisition is still present on Scooter’s Instagram. You ASSUMED that I was talking about Ariana. Just say that next time.

[nickd]

Jul 1, 2019 13:10:33 GMT -5 thewp said:

Jul 1, 2019 13:01:59 GMT -5 nickd said:

If her point was that she was blindsided by the news by finding out about it the morning it was announced, I'm not sure how knowing about it a few hours earlier really changes anything.

Also she wasn't blindsided by the knowledge that Scott was selling Big Machine, she already knew that as her own post stated. She was blindsided to find out that it was sold to Scooter Braun. And if her father skipped calls because it would involve an NDA that wouldn't allow him to tell her about the details of the deal (like who the buyer was) then how does that should she knew who the buyer was??

If she didn’t know because she didn’t check her phone, not sure how that’s anyones fault but hers? Per his post, he gave her more notice than she gave him when leaving so again, I’m not sure how it’s relevant-she brought it up.

Scott still knew she was looking into moving to a different label well in advance and there's no reason to believe he'd have a particular issue with her choosing Republic over any other label considering Big Machine and Republic have had a strong business relationship since Big Machine's inception.

Her argument seems to have been partly that Scott should have known the decision to sell to Scooter would have hurt her and she feels betrayed that he basically didn't give her any advanced notice (or chance to make a counter offer? not sure). An overnight text for an announcement that was to be made the following morning is not much of a courtesy and for all intents and purposes I think could be considered "finding out as it was being announced". 

It's also possible that she was saying that to explain that she was writing her post in the heat of the moment, it's not some PR statement she had weeks to prepare.

[nickd]

Jul 1, 2019 13:37:02 GMT -5 Linnethia Monique said:

Jul 1, 2019 13:21:02 GMT -5 nickd said:

Ariana is the only pop star that liked Scooter Braun's post.


Kacey liked a post from Scooter's wife that was specifically directed at Taylor for her post and Demi Lovato was responding to Taylor and Todrick's comments.

I made no mention of Ariana and you’re digging your heels on that. I even gave you reference into what I was referring to and you still didn’t let up. Demi’s like on the post about the acquisition is still present on Scooter’s Instagram. You ASSUMED that I was talking about Ariana. Just say that next time.

Yeah, I assumed you were talking about Ariana because that would be an example of where I think unfollowing someone would be unjustified. 

The people unfollowing Demi and Kacey had more justification for doing so, and they were not unfollowing them for liking Scooter's post on the acquisition.

[BDGeek]

Jun 30, 2019 21:44:13 GMT -5 itsaboutart said:

I can sympathise with Taylor swift on this. I would hate my masters to be sold to someone I didn’t like.

But she chose to leave the record label to find a better situation for herself. She was signed to a record deal where she didn’t own her masters. The record label is a business and is going to sell it at the best price for itself. It’s capitalistic but it’s understandable

Demi Lovato should focus on her health.

This is the best summary of the situation I've seen so far. I get how frustrating it must be for someone you dislike to profit from something you put a lot of work into. But I can't think of too many artists signed to major labels that own their masters, even decades after they entered their contracts. My knowledge of the music business is admittedly more copyright-focused than master-focused though. Taylor still partially controls her copyrights through her publishing deal with Sony/ATV, yes?

[Dammn Baby]

Jul 1, 2019 13:40:04 GMT -5 nickd said:

Jul 1, 2019 13:10:33 GMT -5 thewp said:

If she didn’t know because she didn’t check her phone, not sure how that’s anyones fault but hers? Per his post, he gave her more notice than she gave him when leaving so again, I’m not sure how it’s relevant-she brought it up.

Scott still knew she was looking into moving to a different label well in advance and there's no reason to believe he'd have a particular issue with her choosing Republic over any other label considering Big Machine and Republic have had a strong business relationship since Big Machine's inception.

Her argument seems to have been partly that Scott should have known the decision to sell to Scooter would have hurt her and she feels betrayed that he basically didn't give her any advanced notice (or chance to make a counter offer? not sure). An overnight text for an announcement that was to be made the following morning is not much of a courtesy and for all intents and purposes I think could be considered "finding out as it was being announced". 

It's also possible that she was saying that to explain that she was writing her post in the heat of the moment, it's not some PR statement she had weeks to prepare.

The fact is that Scott chose to sell the business (as is his right) to someone that Taylor doesn't like. Most sales, particularly of private corporations, are not telegraphed significantly in advance, and he (and everyone else involved) didn't owe her any disclosure, so a text communication prior to announcement is better than I would have expected. She's treating this as a personal slight for the benefit of her Tumblr readers when it is a $300M deal and has absolutely nothing to do with her. Moreover, the identity of the buyer is, quite frankly, none of her business. She's upset that she has zero control over her masters, which is entirely a result of the first binding contract that she herself signed with BM. So, she's quite happy when business is in her favour, and unhappy when it's not. Her post reads as childish in context.

[Koochie]

Jun 30, 2019 18:58:58 GMT -5 Choco said:

Also kinda hoping Ariana stays silent. Scooter is by all accounts a dear friend and a big reason why she's one of the biggest stars right now, but I don't want to see her pitted against Taylor.

"By all accounts" is a stretch. Ariana and Scooter have been rumored to have a shaky relationship for a while now. She recently backed Taylor on insta before deleting edit: this was faked, they’ve had multiple conflicts including the release of “Ghostin” (Ariana did not want to release or perform this song publicly, Scooter stepped in) and the Dangerous Woman Tour (Ariana did not want to continue, Scooter stepped in), and she’s outright fired him before. I don't think he's a dear friend. Lucrative business partner, absolutely.

Regarding the essay, the line that sticks out most to me is “this is what happens when you sign a deal at fifteen to someone for whom the term ‘loyalty’ is clearly just a contractual concept”, and to me that’s what this essay wants to be about: ownership (politely disagree that it’s well written). Scooter is only mentioned to help her case, that this whole situation is s**tty, and the level of detail ensures he’s going to make it about him which, given the nature of his business, means she’s basically exploiting him for free labor (queen, etc), but it’s not about him. She’s outlining Scott dealing with Scooter in the first place, why that reflects poorly on his character and the deal itself, and why all of this matters: because of the ownership of her masters. Boom, that’s it.

The only discrepancy here is the June 25th thing. To be quite frank I think she’s fudging it to appeal to emotion, but I don’t really care? Iggy Azalea actually came to bat here to remind us that deals like this take months. Even if she did know 5 days before it went public, that deal was already done and she could do nothing about it. That's as good as finding out when the acquisition was made public. As far as her other points, we know Scooter is a jerkoff asshole, and Scott all but confirmed the offer Taylor rejected. I’m not following anyone who thinks she’s a liar or how they’ve come to that conclusion unless they’re looking for an excuse to hear themselves talk about how much they think she sucks.

What I’m also not understanding is why people keep harping on “business is business sweetie xo” as if we’re not talking about the biggest global post-Anti popstar here, or as if saying so somehow makes this situation any less s**tty for her. Her decision to leave the label would not have stopped it from being sold, and the only offer she was made was a s**t deal. I’m not really sure what this discussion adds to the conversation. What it boils down to is whether or not you agree that artists should own what they create, or whether or not you agree with how she handled airing out her frustrations, but nobody should be questioning her business sense for being upset with a contract she signed at half her age, especially when she's getting a ton of publicity for it on the cusp of her upcoming album release.

[Linnethia Monique]

Hasn't Scott been fielding offers since early 2015 for the acquisition of the label? Her disdain seems to be more towards WHO got the masters and not the masters being in somebody else's hands. She seemed perfectly fine until she realized that it was Scooter that was also in the running but that's just my train of thought at the moment.

[Koochie]

Jul 1, 2019 14:35:29 GMT -5 Linnethia Monique said:

Hasn't Scott been fielding offers since early 2015 for the acquisition of the label? Her disdain seems to be more towards WHO got the masters and not the masters being in somebody else's hands. She seemed perfectly fine until she realized that it was Scooter that was also in the running but that's just my train of thought at the moment.

Now we’re getting into why I think the essay is poorly written.

In part, yes, her frustration is with Scooter owning her masters now, but he’d never have had the opportunity to do so if Scott had granted her the opportunity to buy them herself (which she had obviously tried to do if they had the contract Scott made public drafted) or if Scott had had the consideration to not sell it to Scooter in the first place. It’s not like Taylor has a live blog updating us on every contract she’s handed, we had no way of knowing how “fine” or not she was with the situation until this broke.

Edit: to be clear, I’m saying she’s definitely frustrated Scooter owns her masters, but it’s because Scott never gave her an opportunity to in fairness. The “because” is very poorly communicated in her essay, but it’s there.

[slowmo]

Jul 1, 2019 14:35:29 GMT -5 Linnethia Monique said:

Hasn't Scott been fielding offers since early 2015 for the acquisition of the label? Her disdain seems to be more towards WHO got the masters and not the masters being in somebody else's hands. She seemed perfectly fine until she realized that it was Scooter that was also in the running but that's just my train of thought at the moment.

I think it goes back even further to 2011 when he started to float the possibility of the label being on the market out there and then 2014 when there were more serious talks happening. HDD says that she previously squashed a deal with Snapchat. They also posted in May that Scooter was in town meeting with Scott and wondered if it had to do with a possible deal. To anyone paying attention, this shouldn't have been a surprise. 

[🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾]

[Linnethia Monique]

Jul 1, 2019 14:49:19 GMT -5 🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾 said:

We really need to stop posting these kinds of responses from close allies of both parties if they aren’t going to expound on their reasoning.

[👑 Eloquent ™]

Jul 1, 2019 15:06:02 GMT -5 Linnethia Monique said:

Jul 1, 2019 14:49:19 GMT -5 🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾 said:

We really need to stop posting these kinds of responses from close allies of both parties if they aren’t going to expound on their reasoning.

lol. For why? This is Taylor's thread. I see no harm in posting the support she recieves. I think people can deduce the bias or lack thereof involved with whoever's opinion is shared.

[Linnethia Monique]

Jul 1, 2019 15:19:48 GMT -5 👑 Eloquent ™ said:

Jul 1, 2019 15:06:02 GMT -5 Linnethia Monique said:

We really need to stop posting these kinds of responses from close allies of both parties if they aren’t going to expound on their reasoning.

lol. For why? This is Taylor's thread. I see no harm in posting the support she recieves. I think people can deduce the bias or lack thereof involved with whoever's opinion is shared.

Yeah you’re right but me being an analytical person I always want more of an explanation rather than a curt statement saying someone is “shit”.

[🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾]

[#LisaRinna]

Jun 30, 2019 21:33:23 GMT -5 @pma2015 said:

Taylor knows how gain publicity one way or other to sell records! Shrewd woman I see you!!🎯 I just wish the young her was as shrewd as Mariah Carey and said no to selling her catalog away

A foreshadowing Legend.

[Caviar]

Jul 1, 2019 16:09:02 GMT -5 #LisaRinna said:

Jun 30, 2019 21:33:23 GMT -5 @pma2015 said:

Taylor knows how gain publicity one way or other to sell records! Shrewd woman I see you!!🎯 I just wish the young her was as shrewd as Mariah Carey and said no to selling her catalog away

A foreshadowing Legend.

Why do people keep saying Taylor sold her catalog? She still has her publishing deal and will be making coin everytime the song is played or licensed. This deal is specifically about ownership of her masters. Two totally different business deals.

[deepston]

Jul 1, 2019 16:01:56 GMT -5 Linnethia Monique said:

Jul 1, 2019 15:19:48 GMT -5 👑 Eloquent ™ said:

lol. For why? This is Taylor's thread. I see no harm in posting the support she recieves. I think people can deduce the bias or lack thereof involved with whoever's opinion is shared.

Yeah you’re right but me being an analytical person I always want more of an explanation rather than a curt statement saying someone is “s**t”.

But knowing what other people are thinking about this is still important to know how this situation will affect Taylor.

[justlurkingaround]

Some here are pretending that the $300 million worth of BMR isn’t because of Taylor’s masters. Take those out of the equation, and I’m sure the label wouldn’t sell for half that amount. If you’re the heart of the deal, you get to have an opinion about the deal, business as usual or not.

[#LisaRinna]

Jul 1, 2019 16:11:24 GMT -5 Caviar said:

Jul 1, 2019 16:09:02 GMT -5 #LisaRinna said:

A foreshadowing Legend.

Why do people keep saying Taylor sold her catalog? She still has her publishing deal and will be making coin everytime the song is played or licensed. This deal is specifically about ownership of her masters. Two totally different business deals.

Yes, we all know that. However, owning your masters is where the real coinT is.

[Koochie]

God hides in heaven in fear of her power

Jul 1, 2019 16:18:48 GMT -5 deepston said:

This is fake, apparently

[nickd]

Yeah, there are certain things that she hasn't made entirely clear, perhaps because she didn't have much time to write her post. I don't think she's saying anything illegal was done, she's mainly voicing her frustrations.

Some of the post reads like "the music industry cares money about money than its artists" which isn't going to be a shock to most people but it can nonetheless be informative to have a case study about how that can manifest itself, and I do think that's at least part of the purpose of her post. And perhaps she is in part using her post to advocate for broader change in the music industry to make it friendlier to artists.

There does seem to be some level of betrayal that she's feeling towards Scott too. Lets not forget their relationship is not typical of label president-artist relationships. He discovered her (kind of) but he also built Big Machine pretty much entirely off her success. Did Big Machine even break any successful artists prior to 2011-2012 or so? No offense to Danielle Peck and Jack Ingram but I'm far from convinced Big Machine was even in the black with those two. Did they have any other signees for the first few years of Taylor being on the label other than those two? I'm sure her relationship with him was much closer than most label president-artist relationships too, like he's described her almost like a daughter and it stung to see just to what extent the product of that relationship was treated as nothing more than something to be sold and bought. Perhaps she felt like what she put in went beyond just a business relationship. I'm sure plenty of people feel the same way about two faced bosses when they lose their jobs.

To a certain extent, "that's life", but to another, she still has the right to be upset and vent a little.

However, she also seems to hint at the negotiations having been somewhat in bad faith? Is it possible that Scott tried to strong arm her into a shitty deal and then when she turned that down he offered a better deal to Scooter out of pettiness? It's not impossible but I kind of wish she'd given a bit more information on the nature of the deals that were on the table for her and Scoot.

[deepston]

Jul 1, 2019 16:28:34 GMT -5 Koochie said:

Jul 1, 2019 16:18:48 GMT -5 deepston said:

This is fake, apparently

Oops, I'll delete it then.

[Okay]

I'm not sure what to make of so many celebs responding to this. She understood and made peace with the fact that her masters were going to be sold because that's what business is and she didn't want to accept Scott's deal. From what Taylor posted this seems more like a personal issue between her and Scooter. Similar to the drama between Zedd and Matthew Koma. 

[slowmo]

Jul 1, 2019 16:14:34 GMT -5 justlurkingaround said:

Some here are pretending that the $300 million worth of BMR isn’t because of Taylor’s masters. Take those out of the equation, and I’m sure the label wouldn’t sell for half that amount. If you’re the heart of the deal, you get to have an opinion about the deal, business as usual or not.

But she in effect "excluded herself from the narrative" when she signed with a new label. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

She can react emotionally to this news, as she has, but that doesn't change the fact that these were business decisions that were made. I'm actually a little bit surprised that when her dad gave Scott some money to start the label and get Taylor a deal (allegedly), they didn't negotiate better on this front. Of course, she was only 15 at the time and unknown, but one would think it would've been a more artist friendly contract. Maybe it was in other ways?

[Linnethia Monique]

Jul 1, 2019 16:41:27 GMT -5 Okay said:

I'm not sure what to make of so many celebs responding to this. She understood and made peace with the fact that her masters were going to be sold because that's what business is and she didn't want to accept Scott's deal. From what Taylor posted this seems more like a personal issue between her and Scooter. Similar to the drama between Zedd and Matthew Koma. 

I wonder how many of them actually own their masters as well.

[Choco]

I think the current generation of stars is probably screwed, contract-wise, but I'm sure the next generation is watching this and will probably avoid deals that could end in a similar issue.

[#LisaRinna]

Jul 1, 2019 18:03:40 GMT -5 Choco said:

I think the current generation of stars is probably screwed, contract-wise, but I'm sure the next generation is watching this and will probably avoid deals that could end in a similar issue.

Actually the current generation should've looked at TLC, Toni Braxton and JoJo and learned from their struggles already.