Taylor Swift has been vocal about her displeasure with Scooter Braun buying the rights to her pre-Lover music, and she spoke about the situation at length while accepting the Woman Of The Decade honor at the Billboard Music Awards last night during a passionate 15-minute speech.
She began by comparing the sale of her music to buying real estate, and expressed her belief that although Braun did not contact her prior to the sale, he knew how she would react to the news:
“Lately there’s been a new shift that has affected me personally, and that I feel is a potential harmful force in our industry, and as your resident loud person, I feel like I need to bring it up. And that is the unregulated world of private equity coming in and buying up our music as if it real estate, as if it is an app, or a shoe line. This happened to me without my approval, consultation or consent. After I was denied the chance to purchase my music outright, my entire catalog was sold to Scooter Braun’s Ithica Holdings. […] Of course, Scooter never contacted me or my team to discuss it prior to the sale, or even when it was announced. I’m fairly certain he knew exactly how I’d feel about it, though. “
She went on to slam those who defend Braun, saying that those who support him exhibit “the definition of white male privilege,” saying, “And let me just say that the definition of the toxic male privilege in our industry is people saying, ‘But he’s always been nice to me,’ when I’m raising valid concerns about artists and their rights to own their music. Of course he’s nice to you: If you’re in this room, you have something he needs.”
Watch Swift’s full speech above, with her comments about Braun starting at about 9:35 into the video.
