Scott Borchetta on Taylor Swift: ‘I’m Always Gonna Root for Her’
Even though Scott Borchetta's 2019 sale of Big Machine Label Group to celebrity talent manager Scooter Braun resulted in some strong words from country-turned-pop superstar Taylor Swift, Borchetta says in a new interview with Billboard that he wishes nothing but the best for the singer.
"Of course," Borchetta replies when asked on the red carpet of the 2020 Billboard Power Event if he still roots for the superstar. "I mean, I'm always gonna root for her. She's brilliant, and we've had a historic run."
As to the controversy that surrounded the major BMLG shift, Borchetta explains that the growth he and Braun have experienced balances out any backlash. "We've always had a tough skin, so there's a great balance in the universe, great things have happened. Every once in a while, you're gonna get hit, but we're rocking," he adds.
Borchetta and Braun announced the sale of BMLG and its publishing arm, Big Machine Music, in June of 2019. Following that announcement, Swift posted a note on Tumblr stating that the sale represented her "worst case scenario" because of Braun's "incessant, manipulative bullying" of her via clients including Kanye West and Justin Bieber.
The singer parted ways amicably with BMLG in late 2018, when her record contract ended and she signed a new deal with Universal Music Group. Prior to that, she and Borchetta worked together for a decade and a half. The singer released her first six albums via BMLG, and she saw the sale of the label -- and with it, the masters copies to those six albums -- to Braun as a betrayal on Borchetta's part.
After Swift spoke out against the sale, Borchetta responded with a blog post of his own that refuted her claims of bullying by Braun as well as her claim that she did not find out about the sale of BMLG until it was announced publicly.
Taylor Swift vs. BMLG: Who's Said What