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 âearnâ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in. I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future. I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past. Music I wrote on my bedroom floor and videos I dreamed up and paid for from the money I earned playing in bars, then clubs, then arenas, then stadiums.Â
Some fun facts about todayâs news: I learned about Scooter Braunâs purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world. All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying Iâve received at his hands for years.Â
Like when Kim Kardashian orchestrated an illegally recorded snippet of a phone call to be leaked and then Scooter got his two clients together to bully me online about it. (See photo) Or when his client, Kanye West, organized a revenge porn music video which strips my body naked. Now Scooter has stripped me of my lifeâs work, that I wasnât given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.
This is my worst case scenario. This is what happens when you sign a deal at fifteen to someone for whom the term âloyaltyâ is clearly just a contractual concept. And when that man says âMusic has valueâ, he means its value is beholden to men who had no part in creating it.Â
When I left my masters in Scottâs hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words âScooter Braunâ escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to. He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didnât want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever.Â
Thankfully, I am now signed to a label that believes I should own anything I create. Thankfully, I left my past in Scottâs hands and not my future. And hopefully, young artists or kids with musical dreams will read this and learn about how to better protect themselves in a negotiation. You deserve to own the art you make.
I will always be proud of my past work. But for a healthier option, Lover will be out August 23.Â
