Scooter Braun Opens Up About His Career as a Former Artist Manager
Scooter Braun has opened up about the "guilt" he feels from his long-term career as a former artist manager. During a recent interview with The Diary of a CEO, Braun admitted that he felt guilty because he had previously worked with many young emerging artists who "were judged by the whole world at very young ages".
Feeling Guilty for Not Understanding Young Artists
"I feel a lot of guilt at this age because I worked with so many young artists," he said. "I hadn’t taken the time to look at myself or carry out therapy myself until I was older, and at 25, 27, 30 years I did not understand that for very unique backgrounds they came with their own families and their own childhood, which grew up in this way and were judged by the whole world." Braun headed Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber during the rise of their careers, starting with Bieber at the age of 13 and Grande in 2013 when she was about 20 years old.
The Pressure of Young Fame
Braun explained the pressure of young fame and noticed that "I think people are not worshiped. I think we are helped to serve, and I think if we worship humans, it changes something in us, it causes us a little." He added, "We are not built for that, and I think it can be very confusing. And I think it is the childhood of people who cheer their name and everything else on this level and get to a place where the artists I have worked with, work through in healthy relationships and with their families and still work through things, but I think it’s a will for their strength and I think that’s part of it."
Feud with Taylor Swift
The Hybe CEO also spoke about his feud with Taylor Swift, which was triggered after the acquisition of Big Machine Records and the acquisition of her master catalog in 2019. Braun said: "When I bought Big Machine, I thought I would work with all artists on Big Machine." He remembered the moment when he saw Swift’s Tumblr post where she said he was learning that he had control over her catalog, her "worst case" was "incessant manipulative bullying, which I have received in his hands for years". Braun was shocked and said, "It was five or six years ago, I don’t have to go back in, but what I can tell you is that everything in life is a gift. If I have this experience, I can have empathy for the people with whom I have always said that I would always say: ‘Yes, I understand, but I never knew how to be on the global stage.’"
A New Chapter
His interview comes a few weeks after Swift bought her catalog back for her first six albums in a deal with Shamrock Capital. The original sale, where Braun’s Ithaca Holdings bought Big Machine Label Group, took place in June 2019 and led the Grammy winner to re-record and re-release all of her first six records.
