Scooter Braun wishes he had done things differently with Taylor Swift.
To recap, Scooter acquired Taylor’s masters up until her Reputation album when buying her former record company, Big Machine, in June 2019. That same day, Taylor called the buyout her “worst case scenario” on Tumblr, and they’ve been at odds since.
Speaking on The Limits with Jay Williams podcast, Braun admitted he “would have” handled the situation differently and that he “learned an important lesson.”
Scooter reflected on when “all hell broke loose” — as in Taylor’s Tumblr post — and believes the issue arose because “a lot of things got lost in translation.” The talent manager said he was “under a very strict NDA” when acquiring Big Machine, so he “wasn’t legally allowed” to “tell any artist” about the deal beforehand.
“So the regret I have there is that I made the assumption that everyone, once the deal was done, was going to have a conversation with me, see my intent, see my character and say, ‘Great, let’s be in business together,"” he said. Braun admitted that his mindset was coming from “a place of arrogance.”
As for what he learned, Braun said, “I can never make that assumption again.” He added, “I think that when you have a conflict with someone, it’s very hard to resolve it if you’re not willing to have a conversation.”
He also learned to see things from Taylor’s point of view. “I didn’t appreciate how that all went down,” he confessed. “I thought it was unfair. But I also understand, from the other side, they probably felt it was unfair, too.”
Braun, who has since sold the rights to Taylor’s first six albums for a reported $300 million+, says he’s “rooting” for Taylor and “wish[es] everyone involved well.”
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