‘I Stand With Taylor’ Trends After Scooter Braun And Team Block Taylor Swift’s AMA Performance
Taylor Swift is seeing a wave of support after telling fans that the owner of her former label, Scooter Braun, and his partner, Scott Borchetta, are blocking her old music from being included in a tribute performance at the American Music Awards, marking the latest showdown between the two sides.
Swift took to Twitter on Thursday to tell fans that the team at Big Machine Music will not allow her to use any of her old songs in a retrospective performance at the AMAs, where she is being honored with an Artist of the Decade award. Swift claimed that she had not planned on telling fans about the honor, but that she didn’t know what else to do, given the apparent roadblock on the performance.
Swift also revealed that Netflix had been working on a documentary about her life, one that was several years in the making, and that the Big Machine Music team was blocking this project as well. She added that Borchetta and Braun left her with a series of demands if she wanted to use her old music.
“Scott Borchetta told my team that they’ll allow me to use my music only if I do these things: If I agree to not re-record copycat versions of my songs next year (which is something I’m both legally allowed to do and looking forward to) and also told my team that I need to stop talking about him and Scooter Braun,” Swift wrote.
Swift instead called on fans to make their feelings known to Braun and Borchetta, and many have responded. The hashtag #IStandWithTaylor shot to the top of Twitter trends in the wake of Swift’s announcement, with many voicing their support — both for her and for all artists who feel that large labels have taken advantage of them and unfairly profited from their work.
Swift herself said she hopes that by standing up to Borchetta and Braun, she is giving support to other artists who find themselves in the same situation.
“I feel very strongly that sharing what is happening to me could change the awareness level for other artists and potentially help them avoid a similar fate,” she wrote. “The message being sent to me is very clear. Basically, be a good little girl and shut up. Or you’ll be punished.”
The #IStandWithTaylor movement is a pivotal moment in music. If Taylor Swift, the woman who EARNED Artist of the Decade, is dealing with men (who didn't create her music) trying to silence her, imagine what other hardworking women in the industry are facing.
? "This is WRONG." https://t.co/YC4vm2aVX1
— Brian A. Hernandez (@BAHjournalist) November 15, 2019
The post was the latest in the simmering feud between Swift and her former record label. Swift had come out against Braun after he purchased Big Machine Records for a rumored $300 million in July, saying that the man who publicly bullied her during her feud with Kanye West was now in control of the master recordings from her early albums.
