Taylor Swift’s clash with her ex-label boss Scott Borchetta and music manager Scooter Braun over rights to her music continues to heat up.
Big Machine Label Group on Friday responded to Swift’s impassioned social media post a day earlier enlisting her fans in her slam of Borchetta and Braun, saying the two music industry titans blocked her from performing a medley of her songs at the American Music Awards later this month.
Swift’s music catalog, from the time of her 2006 debut album to 2017′s “Reputation,” is held by Big Machine, which is now owned by Braun’s Ithaca Holdings. Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine in a controversial $300 million deal earlier this year.
“As Taylor Swift’s partner for over a decade, we were shocked to see her tumblr statements yesterday based on false information,” Big Machine said in a statement. “At no point did we say Taylor could not perform on the AMAs or block her Netflix special. In fact, we do not have the right to keep her from performing live anywhere. Since Taylor’s decision to leave Big Machine last fall, we have continued to honor all of her requests to license her catalog to third parties as she promotes her current record in which we do not financially participate.”
Big Machine went on to say it has worked with Swift “to productively move forward” and was “optimistic as recently as yesterday that this may get resolved.”
“However, despite our persistent efforts to find a private and mutually satisfactory solution, Taylor made a unilateral decision last night to enlist her fanbase in a calculated manner that greatly affects the safety of our employees and their families,” the Big Machine statement said, before addressing Swift directly: “Taylor, the narrative you have created does not exist.”
Big Machine insisted it seeks only “direct and honest conversation” and claimed to share “the collective goal of giving your fans the entertainment they both want and deserve.”
In a rebuttal statement, Swift shared a message to her from a Big Machine vice president that said the company “will not agree to issue licenses for existing recordings or waivers of its re-recording restrictions in connection with these two projects: The Netflix documentary and The Alibaba ‘Double Eleven’ event.’”
Swift said she performed only songs off of her new album at the Double Eleven event, “as it was clear that Big Machine Label Group felt any televised performance of catalog songs violated her agreement.” She said Borchetta and Braun “flatly denied” her request for the American Music Awards and Netflix.
“Big Machine is trying to deflect and make this about money,” Swift’s statement added, saying the company owes her $7.9 million.