Taylor Swift Says Scooter Braun Tried To 'Silence' Her Before $300 Million Music Sale

Prepare yourself for a Scooter Braun-themed version of Mean when Taylor Swift rerecords her old music, because the battle over the ownership of her masters rages on.

On Monday, Variety reported that Braun had sold the rights of the singers early catalogue to an unnamed private equity company for more than $300 million. The sale came more than a year after Brauns Ithaca Holdings acquired the Nashville-based Big Machine Label Group , including the rights to Swifts first six albums.

At the time, Swift described the music manager taking control of her masters as the worst-case scenario in a scathing open letter that accused him of incessant, manipulative bullying throughout her career. The fallout created deep divides in the music community, with recording artists like Kelly Clarkson and Halsey defending Swift, while others backed Braun, including Demi Lovato.

In a lengthy note posted to Twitter on Monday after news of the most recent sale broke, Swift said she hoped to clear things up about the headline-making deal.

Before the sale, the Grammy winner explained that shed entered into negotiations with Braun to actively regain ownership of my master recordings, but things quickly fell apart.

Been getting a lot of questions about the recent sale of my old masters. I hope this clears things up. pic.twitter.com/sscKXp2ibD

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Been getting a lot of questions about the recent sale of my old masters. I hope this clears things up. pic.twitter.com/sscKXp2ibD
Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) November 16, 2020

Scooters team wanted me to sign an ironclad NDA stating I would never say another word about Scooter Braun unless it was positive, before we could even look at the financial records of BMLG (which is always the first step in a purchase of this nature), Swift said. So, I would have to sign a document that would silence me forever before I could even have a chance to bid on my own work.

She went onto add that her legal team had never seen an NDA like this presented unless it was to silence an assault accuser by paying them off.

He would never even quote my team a price. These master recordings were not for sale to me, she concluded.

Swift said that she was later only notified of Brauns sale of her catalogue which she revealed was to Shamrock Holdings after the deal was already completed.

Despite her initial relief that Braun would no longer be involved in her career, during discussions with Shamrock, Swift said it became evident that, under the terms of the sale, he would continue to profit off my old musical catalog for many years.

I was hopeful and open to the possibility of a partnership with Shamrock, but Scooters participation is a non-starter for me, she added.