Scooter Braun’s Nashville, Tenn., office was shut Friday following threats allegedly sparked by Taylor Swift’s claim she was being bullied and barred from performing her old hits.
Braun’s company, Ithaca Holdings, was deluged with calls after Swift alleged that he and Big Machine Label Group co-founder Scott Borchetta were preventing her from performing her hits at the American Music Awards, and refused to permit her music to be used in a Netflix doc. She had asked her fans, “Please let Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun know how you feel about this.”
Big Machine has denied Swift’s claims they tried to block her from performing certain songs at the AMAs or in her Netflix special and said, “Despite our persistent efforts to find a private and mutually satisfactory solution, Taylor made a unilateral decision . . . to enlist her fan base in a calculated manner that greatly affects the safety of our employees and their families.” Nashville Police said no threats were reported.
Swift’s team doubled down on her claims, “Scott Borchetta . . . flatly denied the request for both the AMAs and Netflix.” The star also claimed he told her she could only use her music if she agreed not to re-record her masters and “stop talking about him and Scooter Braun.”
Ithaca bought the masters of Swift’s first six albums and her former record label Big Machine for $300 million in June.
According to a source, Braun has repeatedly reached out to Swift since June to meet in person and broker a partnership, but she has ignored him. But Swift insiders say, “He should have reached out before the deal closed.”
A music source added, “Scooter never had a relationship with Taylor, he should have offered her a partnership when he bought the company. Even if he offers Taylor a 50-50 deal now and allows her to buy in, her masters have dramatically increased in value since the sale. Taylor is very unlikely to give Scooter hundreds of millions given the bad blood.”
Reps for Swift and Braun declined to comment.
