Taylor Swift Says Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta Are Blocking Her From Performing Old Songs at AMAs

Source: Complex

November 14, 2019 at 20:44

Taylor Swift's scheduled performance at the 2019 American Music Awards is now in question.

On Thursday night, the singer-songwriter shared a lengthy message in which she accused Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta of blocking her musical set planned for the Nov. 24 ceremony. Swift, who will receive the Artist of the Decade honor at this year's AMAs, said she intended to perform a medley of her greatest hits, but Braun and Borchetta are preventing her from doing so.

"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 wrote. "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."

Borchetta allegedly told Swift's team he will allow her to use pre-Lover music on two conditions: "If I agree to not re-record copycat versions of my songs next year (which is something I’m both legally allowed to do and looking forward to)" and to "stop talking about him and Scooter Braun."

The highly publicized dispute began back in June, after Braun's media company Ithaca Holdings had acquired Swift's former label Big Machine Label Group, which was founded by Borchetta. As part of the acquisition, Braun received the master rights to Swift's first six albums, meaning any license requests would have to be authorized by the powerhouse music manager. Swift also claimed she rejected a contract-renewal deal in which she would earn back her masters one album at a time; for every new album Swift released under Big Machine Records, the label would give her the masters to one of her old projects. The singer said she declined the offer because she new Borchetta was on the verge of selling the imprint.

But Swift refused to give up, and was set on owning her music. During an August interview on CBS Sunday Morning, she announced her plans to re-record her back catalog, which she alluded to in her recent post.

"I feel very strongly that sharing what is happening to me could change the awareness level for other artists and potentially help them avoid a similar fate. The message being sent to me is very clear. Basically, be a good little girl and shut up. Or you’ll be punished," she continued. "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.

"So this is where I’m asking for your help. Please let Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun know how you feel about this. Scooter also manages several artists who I really believe care about other artists and their work. Please ask them for help with this – I’m hoping that maybe they can talk some sense into the men who are exercising tyrannical control over someone who just wants to play the music she wrote ... Right now my performance at the AMAs, the Netflix documentary and any other recorded events I am planning to play until November of 2020 are a question mark."

You can read Swift's full statement below.