This Is Apparently the ‘Real’ Reason Everyone Is Leaving Scooter Braun

Just business? “Why is everyone leaving Scooter Braun?” is the question on the minds of everyone on the internet right now after reports that Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato and more celebrity clients were dropping him as their manager.

For those who don’t know: Braun is a talent manager and music executive who is known for managing the careers of stars like Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, Carl Rae Jepsen, and J Balvin, through his talent company, SB Projects. Braun is also the founder of the record label, Schoolboy Records, and the holding company, Ithaca Ventures, which he sold to HYBE Corporation, the South Korean entertainment company that represents K-pop stars like BTS, in 2021. 

Braun made headlines in 2019 after he purchased Big Machine Records, the record label Taylor Swift released her first six albums with, in 2019 for $330 million. With the sale, Braun became the owner of all of the masters, music videos, and artworks copyrighted by Big Machine Records, including Swift’s first six studio albums: Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, and Reputation. In a Tumblr post in 2019, Swift slammed Braun for purchasing her masters from her former manager, Scott Borchetta, and accused him of “incessant, manipulative bullying” over the years. 

“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 ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in,” she wrote. “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. Some fun facts about today’s news: I learned about Scooter Braun’s purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world. All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years.”

She continued later in the post, “This is my worst case scenario. This is what happens when you sign a deal at fifteen to someone for whom the term ‘loyalty’ is clearly just a contractual concept. And when that man says ‘Music has value’, he means its value is beholden to men who had no part in creating it. When I left my masters in Scott’s 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 ‘Scooter Braun’ 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 didn’t want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever.”

Fast forward to 2023, and news broke that several of Braun’s clients were leaving him. J Balvin, who signed with Braun in 2019, left in May 2023 after two years with Braun’s company. Puck News reported that Justin Bieber, whom Braun discovered in 2008, was also leaving after he and Braun hadn’t spoken in “months.” Representatives for Bieber and Braun, however, denied the claims to The Daily Mail. “Reps for all parties confirm this is not true,” the representatives said.

Days later, news broke that Demi Lovato was leaving Braun after signing with him in 2019. Hours after that, there were reports that Ariana Grande, who signed with Braun in 2013, was also leaving him, though some sources denied they had parted ways. A day later, news broke that Idina Menzel, who signed with Braun in 2019, was also leaving him. This all begs the question: Why is everyone leaving Scooter Braun and what did he do? Read on for what we know so far about why everyone is leaving Scooter Braun and the reason so many of his clients have dropped him.