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Taylor Swift Hides Business Cheating Behind Feminist Sloganeering
Daily Wire ^ | June 25, 2024 | Ben Shapiro

Posted on 06/25/2024 8:57:03 AM PDT by Red Badger

There is a new documentary called “Taylor Swift Vs. Scooter Braun: Bad Blood” which covers the infamous feud between Taylor Swift and super-manager Scooter Braun. Braun owns Ithaca Holdings, the company that bought the record label Taylor Swift first signed with, including her albums.

The documentary spans events from June of 2019, when Braun’s company acquired Big Machine Label Group, the record label Swift was signed to for the first 13 years of her career. That acquisition included the rights to her first six albums, from her self-titled debut to “Reputation,” which was released in 2017.

The documentary is divided into two episodes. Episode one is Swift’s version, which is just her being obnoxious. It is Swift and all of her friends and allies suggesting that she is a victimized feminist, that she’s fighting “The Man,” and “Oh, my goodness, how everyone is so mean to Taylor Swift — and Scooter Braun is mean, mean man — he’s super mean.” She’s much more famous and rich because of his involvement, but she’s the victim.

You often see this in celebrity culture: people who are not victims, who make lots of money from particular companies and then claim victimhood. It’s not rare to see Taylor Swift do this sort of thing. And here she is, again, doing that sort of thing. That’s episode one.

Then, in episode two, Scooter Braun shares his side of the story. That’s the side where they explain what happened legally in fairly meticulous detail. It’s the side where everyone recognizes he bought a company and, along with that company, he bought her records and then she complained about it. A lot.

As you might guess, HBO finishes by saying, ”Who can tell? Who knows?” Then the documentary points out that Swift is a very important cultural and musical figure.

Who cares? That’s not the issue. Will she be an important cultural figure in 20 years? I doubt it. In 100 years? No.

But that’s irrelevant to the question at play here. The question is whether she’s kind of a bad person, because it turns out that people who routinely violate their contracts and then claim victimhood are not nice people. And that’s Taylor Swift. She’s used her platform in order to attack Scooter Braun over and over and over.

For example, she used her platform at awards acceptance speeches to criticize Big Machine and Scooter Braun. At her Grammy acceptance speech, she announced her “Tortured Poets Department” album. As I said after listening to that album, my only question about the “Tortured Poets Department” is where do they torture the poets and how do I join?

In any case, the documentary shows her being manipulative and weaponizing her fans to attack Scooter Braun, and she won’t call them off even after Braun releases the threats on his family’s life. And of course, she has lots of feuds with lots of other people because she’s not a particularly nice person.

So here’s the thing. The general public doesn’t tend to understand business deals. They don’t tend to understand legal issues. This is why you hire a lawyer, because if you’re not a lawyer, you don’t understand how legal things work, you don’t understand what provisions do.

You sign contracts with provisions in case something bad happens. And then, when the bad thing happens, the contract governs.

But for the general public — oh, my goodness, a bad thing happened. Now they think they have to figure out who’s right and who’s wrong.

No, they don’t. That was the purpose of the contract in the first place.

As it turns out, Taylor Swift’s actions — lying to her fans, lying to the public, rerecording all the old songs and releasing them — it all gets papered over with this “I’m a Feminist Icon” nonsense, which is a great “Get-out-of-Jail Free” card for being a cheat in business.

That’s Taylor Swift’s shtick. And don’t worry, she’ll continue the shtick as long as people are willing to humor her nonsense.

It’s a lucrative business, pretending to be a 16-year-old victimized feminist while making billions of dollars by violating your contracts.


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Business/Economy; Music/Entertainment; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: feud; music; swift
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1 posted on 06/25/2024 8:57:03 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

The reason for this person’s popularity still escapes me...


2 posted on 06/25/2024 9:07:42 AM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: Jamestown1630

She’s about the only White popstar left.


3 posted on 06/25/2024 9:08:08 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Red Badger

Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings purchased the Nashville-based independent record label Big Machine, founded by Scott Borchetta in 2005, in June 2019 for just over $300 million, of which Swift’s catalog — from her 2006 self-titled debut to 2017’s “Reputation” — was believed to be worth some $140 million. The acquisition encompassed all aspects of Big Machine’s business, including its client roster, distribution deals, publishing and owned artist masters. Swift signed with BMLG at the beginning of her career. Her contract with the label expired in fall 2018, after which she signed a deal for future recordings with Universal Music Group.

17 months after buying Big Machine and all of its recorded music assets, Ithaca sold the master rights to Taylor Swift‘s first six albums. The buyer, was an investment group consisting of GEORGE SOROS, The Carlyle Group (of which GW Bush was once a Director) and 23 Capital.

That’s quite some power Taylor Swift was opposing.

The deal was believed to be north of $300 million and closed in 2020. Some insiders speculate the value could be as high as $450 million once certain earn-backs are factored in.


4 posted on 06/25/2024 9:11:59 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: Red Badger

sorry, manager slimeyness is legendary. prima facie the odds favor the artist.


5 posted on 06/25/2024 9:14:02 AM PDT by xoxox
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To: Jamestown1630

She writes and sings catchy songs that younger girls can identify with.

Fame is fleeting. She is on top right now. Just like Madonna was in the 1980s. She is very good at marketing herself.


6 posted on 06/25/2024 9:14:08 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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To: woodbutcher1963

Just like Madonna was in the 1980s.

And just like Madonna, soon her fanbase will solely consist of aging queens.


7 posted on 06/25/2024 9:15:50 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Jamestown1630

She keeps pumping out simplistic lyrical poems that appeal to teeny boppers with money to spend on her trash.

She’s the female equivalent to KISS.....................


8 posted on 06/25/2024 9:20:26 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Red Badger

She may very well be the last real pop star, with AI generating most new music in the future.


9 posted on 06/25/2024 9:21:52 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator
I know why he is mad. She has publishing rights to her music and she just remixed her original albums an re-released them on her new label. What makes her smart is she hired business savvy people who found the loop holes in her contracts.
10 posted on 06/25/2024 9:22:15 AM PDT by political1 (Love your neighbors)
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To: dfwgator

Until the next Boy Band comes along...........


11 posted on 06/25/2024 9:22:52 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Red Badger

It figures.


12 posted on 06/25/2024 9:30:16 AM PDT by TBP (Decent people cannot fathom the amoral cruelty of the Biden regime.)
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What’s a “super-manager”?


13 posted on 06/25/2024 9:52:25 AM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: dfwgator

The difference with Taylor Swift is that she actually writes and sings and plays some guitar.

Joni Mitchell, to the best of my knowledge was the only other female entertainer to do all three and see near the success of TS.

I am not a Swifty, but I will admit she is quiet impressive.

FYI, two fifty something year old dudes in my office are in the Taylor Swift Fan Club. They were also in the Hannah Montana Fan Club. They each bought tickets to last years Era Tour. Then listed them on Stub Hub and sold them for around $500 profit for each one within 24 hours.


14 posted on 06/25/2024 10:05:33 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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To: woodbutcher1963

You’re comparing Taylor Swift to Joni Mitchell? LOL!


15 posted on 06/25/2024 10:06:14 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Red Badger

Swift writes music for other performers and has written original music or songs for 9 or 10 films.


16 posted on 06/25/2024 10:12:41 AM PDT by Valpal1 (Not even the police are safe from the police!!!)
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To: dfwgator

Yes, they both write/wrote most of the songs they sing.
They both write/wrote catchy pop tunes.
They are both women.
They both played the guitar and some other instruments.
They were both top performers in the time period.

You may not like her, but there has never been a concert tour that generated as much GDP as the TS Eras Tour. That is why several Dem city mayors were begging her to ad their city to the tour.

There are people this summer flying to Norway and other European countries just to see TS. Mostly because they could not afford to see her somewhere in the USA. There are some European countries that do not allow tickets to be sold at more than face value. I believe it is either Norway or Sweden. So, it was cheaper to fly there and see her than it was in the US.


17 posted on 06/25/2024 10:13:31 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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To: woodbutcher1963
You may not like her, but there has never been a concert tour that generated as much GDP as the TS Eras Tour.

That says more about the decline of this country.

18 posted on 06/25/2024 10:17:45 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: xoxox

Maybe so, but you should really read ALL the details on this one and she comes off really bad.


19 posted on 06/25/2024 10:35:03 AM PDT by packrat35 (Pureblood! No clot shot for me!)
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To: dfwgator

I think it was also a part of covid-19 shutdowns were finally over. So, her popularity peaked at just the right time. People could go to concerts again. Go on a cruise. A vacation. Get on an airplane. Go on a business trip to a convention.

The previous year or two we all did projects around the house.
Watched Netflix, etc.

Keep in mind, there were people a year or so ago driving around in their cars WITH A MASK ON. Some people were afraid to leave their house. They ordered groceries and had them delivered. My point is the brain washing experiment worked on MILLIONS of SHEEPLE.

So, to some extent TS was in the right place at the right time.


20 posted on 06/25/2024 10:37:12 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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