Taylor Swift’s Brutal Legal Battle With Scooter Braun Actually Caused Her Net Worth To Skyrocket

Highlights

• Taylor Swift’s decision to re-record her albums was a smart business move, allowing her to regain control of her masters and increase her net worth.
• By re-releasing her albums, Swift not only doubled her success but also incentivized fans with previously unreleased songs.
• While Scooter Braun expressed regret over the sale of Swift’s catalog, it is clear that Swift emerged as the financial victor.

Taylor Swift has dominated the pop culture conversation since she arrived on the scene in 2007, but her fame went into another stratosphere when the musician announced that she would be re-recording all of her studio albums in 2020. The decision was seen by industry insiders as a cagey business move and a bold stroke of independence by fans.

The decision to re-record her albums stemmed from a legal spat that Swift had with music executive Scooter Braun. Swift and Braun have become one of the defining feuds in recent music history, with the former repeatedly calling out Braun for being a bully and aligning with artists who have a vendetta against her (Kanye West being the most notable example).

To Taylor Swift’s credit, she’s managed to flip the situation into a positive and has actually benefited, financially speaking, from her feud with Braun. In fact, she’s wealthier than ever.

Taylor Swift Became A Billionaire After Re-Recording The Catalog Scooter Braun Sold

Taylor Swift was horrified to find out that Scooter Braun, an industry titan she had previously feuded with, purchased Big Machine Records in 2019. The label was where Swift recorded her first six studio albums, which effectively meant that any purchase of a Swift album or stream of a Swift song meant that Braun would be getting paid.

Braun then sold the rights to Shamrock Capital, according to Rolling Stone, and Swift claimed that she was not told of the sale or given the chance to bid on her own masters.

This did not sit well with Swift, and she decided to respond by re-recording her six studio albums so that she could regain control of her masters and her musical identity. The decision may have seemed like a long shot, but it’s proven to be the must lucrative decision of Swift’s entire career.

By re-recording and re-releasing her albums, Taylor Swift has effectively double-dipped on the success of her initial recordings, while at the same time incentivizing fans with songs that were previously unreleased. Swift has re-recorded four albums since 2021, and her net worth has skyrocketed accordingly, according to Forbes:

The correlation between Swift’s decision to take control of her catalog, and her mind-boggling increase in net worth, is undeniable. The musician reflected on her triumphant re-release run, and her feelings towards Scooter Braun, during a 2023 profile in Time Magazine:

“It’s all in how you deal with loss. I respond to extreme pain with defiance… My response to anything that happens, good or bad, is to keep making things. Keep making art. But I’ve also learned there’s no point in actively trying to quote-unquote defeat your enemies. Trash takes itself out every single time.”

Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun’s Feud Resulted In The Singer Saving $300 Million

Taylor Swift has profited from the situation that initially kept her from owning her masters, but it also led to her saving millions of dollars. There’s been debate about whether Scooter Braun intended to sell Swift’s masters back to her, but his decision to make a deal with Shamrock Capital led to Swift penning an accusatory letter on Tumblr.

In the letter, she claimed that she would have purchased her masters if given the chance, and aired out a contractual agreement she felt was unfair with Big Machine Records:

“For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. Instead, I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time… Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.”

Scooter Braun sold Swift’s masters to Shamrock Capital for a whopping $300 million. Swift would have had to match said price if she wanted to own her masters, which would have taken a massive chunk out of her net worth (especially in 2020).

The fact that the musician decided to re-record her albums proved to be a financial stroke of genius, as it not only devalued the Shamrock Capital acquisition but inspired fans to support her by listening to the re-recorded albums over the new ones.

It’s worth noting that Swift owns the masters for each of her albums since Lover (2018), as well as the re-recordings.

Scooter Braun Has Voiced Regret Over The Sale Of Taylor Swift’s Catalog

There does not appear to be any love lost between Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun, and both rank among the most powerful figures in the music industry. Swift is the world’s biggest star, and Braun has managed modern icons like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande. He also made $265 million from the sale of Swift’s catalog, according to Music Business Worldwide.

That being said, Braun has voiced some regret over the way the sale went down. During an appearance on the NPR podcast The Limit, the music executive admitted to being arrogant in his approach to the Shamrock Capital deal, and felt that he should have communicated better with Swift.

He did, however, make it clear that he felt misrepresented by the narrative that Swift put together:

“I can’t put myself in a place of, you know, arrogance to think that someone would just be willing to have a conversation and be excited to work with me… a lot of things got lost in translation…. I didn’t appreciate how that all went down. I thought it was unfair. But I also understand, from the other side, they probably felt it was unfair, too.”

Scooter Braun continues to be a successful businessman, but it’s clear from the aftermath of the Taylor Swift legal battle that the latter came out on top as the financial victor.

Source: NewsFinale