Many years in the making, Taylor Swift’s beef with Justin Bieber finally reached a boiling point, spilling into the public via a social media row. Swift took to Tumblr to excoriate Scooter Braun, who manages Bieber, for purchasing the masters of all six of her records.
Swift, who still holds the publishing rights for her writing, has long attempted to buy her masters from her previous label, Big Machine. But Big Machine founder Scott Borchetta sold them to Braun instead.
Swift, whose seventh album and first independent of Big Machine drops later this month, has long found herself in Braun’s crosshairs. Her fight with Braun is a microcosm of the music industry’s struggle over granting artists rights to their own creations.
Her feud with Bieber is more interesting. From 2011 until early last year, Bieber dated Selena Gomez. The relationship was messy, and Bieber allegedly brought Gomez, who’s close to Swift, into a vicious cycle of drugs and rehab. Swift detested Bieber’s toxic influence on her friend.
For all their beef, both Swift and Bieber found themselves preyed upon by the industry in childhood. Braun illegally brought Bieber to Atlanta from Canada when the then-YouTube singer was just 12 years old and eagerly rode on his coattails to then collect a bevy of superstar clients, including Kanye West, Ariana Grande, and Demi Lovato. Swift is now suffering because of a bum record deal she signed at just 15 years old. It’s unlikely Bieber will bury the hatchet, but if the ensuing fallout from Swift’s Tumblr post is any indication, the rest of the music industry may be waking up to Swift’s decadelong struggle to reclaim art for the artists.
