Scooter Braun weighed in on his long ago feud with singer Taylor Swift, who grew angry with the talent manager after he acquired the master recordings of her early albums.
“Look, it’s five years later,” Braun told attendees at Bloomberg’s Screentime conference in Los Angeles. “I think everyone, it’s time to move on.”
Braun said he initially didn’t want to watch the documentary Taylor Swift Vs. Scooter Braun: Bad Blood, which aired earlier this year on the Max streaming service, but ultimately did so at the encouragement of his parents. Braun said his struggle with Swift was “misrepresented.”
“It’s important in any kind of conflict that people actually communicate directly with each other,” Braun said. “I think when people actually take the time to stand in front of each other, have a conversation, they usually find out the monster’s not real.”
Braun, 43, is an entrepreneur and record executive who serves as chief executive officer of Hybe America, an offshoot of the Korean entertainment company Hybe Co. Braun said he’s in discussion with the company to extend his role at the U.S. branch of the K-pop powerhouse.
Braun scored his first big success discovering singer Justin Bieber on YouTube and helping turn the young Canadian into a global pop star.
Braun later diversified into film and TV production in addition to artist management. In 2019, he acquired Big Machine Label Group, which owned the recordings of the first six Swift albums. The singer was so unhappy about the sale she ended up re-recording her albums to avoid sharing royalties with Braun.
A number of artists in his management roster have left in the past two years, including Demi Lovato. Braun announced his retirement from the artist management business in June to focus on the new responsibilities at Hybe America.
With Hybe founder and chairman Bang Si-Hyuk, Braun has been spearheading the solo project of BTS member Jung Kook as well as supporting Hybe artists’ activities in the US.
Braun was asked at the Screentime event which artist he’d most likely want to manage in the future.
“I think the artist that’s one that you should always bet on — because they want it all the time and they do what it takes to be present and relative all the time — is Taylor Swift,” he said.
Sohee Kim for Bloomberg
