PA ImagesImagine being one of the most successful recording artists in recent years, having sold over 170 million records worldwide and being deemed the artist of the decade.
Imagine fighting your way to the top of the ladder, overcoming all kinds of barriers in order to provide your fans with music you’re proud to call your own and which you’ve put your own stamp on.
Now imagine being told you’re not allowed to perform your own music which you wrote because two people who had absolutely no hand in their creation say so, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
PA ImagesThat’s exactly what Taylor Swift says has happened to her, in a damning Twitter post calling out Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun for ‘exercising tyrannical control’ over her.
In a post titled, ‘don’t know what else to do’, the singer alleged that Borchetta and Braun – who own the rights to her early albums – were preventing her from performing her old songs on television.
Swift, who is set to receive the Artist of the Decade award at the upcoming American Music Awards, told fans she had intended to perform a medley of her hits throughout the decade at the ceremony, but the record executives weren’t allowing her to do so.
The artist also announced that Borchetta and Braun had banned Netflix from using her older music in a documentary about her that the streaming service has reportedly been working on for the past three years.
Don’t know what else to do pic.twitter.com/1uBrXwviTS
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) November 14, 2019
She alleged that Borchetta told her team they would only allow her to use her own music if she followed their rules, those being: Swift must agree not to re-record copycat versions of her songs next year, ‘which is something I’m both legally allowed to do and looking forward to’, and must stop talking about him and Braun.
Swift stated:
The message being sent to me is very clear. Basically, be a good little girl and shut up. Or you’ll be punished. 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.
The singer has been in a feud with Borchetta and Braun ever since it emerged that the latter had acquired Big Machine Records, the label Taylor released her first six award-winning albums with, in June.
At the time, she took to social media to say she was ‘sad and grossed out’ by the news Braun would own her entire music catalogue. ‘All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years,’ she wrote on Tumblr.
As a way of reclaiming some control over her music, Swift said she planned to record copycat versions of her previous songs from late next year – something which Borchetta and Braun are now attempting to stop her from doing, she has claimed.
In the impassioned statement, Swift asked for her fan’s help as: ‘Right now, my performance at the AMA’s, the Netflix documentary and any other recorded events I am planning to play until November 2020 are a question mark.’
PA ImagesShe also appealed to other artists managed by Braun, saying she hoped 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’.
Several artists have since come to the singer’s defence, including Taylor’s lifelong friend Selena Gomez, who described the men’s actions as driven by ‘greed, manipulation and power’.
She wrote:
There is no heart or thought of anyone else’s. No respect for the words my friend has written since she was a 14 year old in her bedroom.
You’ve robbed and crushed one of our best song writers of our time an opportunity to celebrate all of her music with fans and the world.
Singer-songwriter Halsey described the move as ‘punishment’, stating Borchetta and Braun were ‘hoping to silence her from speaking about things by dangling this over her head’. Elsewhere, Lily Allen wondered why music hadn’t had its #MeToo moment, while stating she stands with Swift.
Over 60,000 fans have now signed a petition to allow the singer to perform/use her own art, which you can sign here.
Braun and Borchetta are yet to respond to the allegations.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).