Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta have spoken out for the first time since announcing the former's acquisition of the latter's Big Machine label.
The deal sparked controversy amongst artists and industry experts when Taylor Swift published a scathing Tumblr Post about Braun acquiring the masters to her first six albums (released via Big Machine), calling the situation her "worst case scenario."
Braun and Borchetta recently gave their first interview as business partners to Billboard, but they refused to comment on Swift's response or the myriad artists who leapt to her defence afterwards.
Instead, Braun drew comparisons between himself and Borchetta, who first met in 2010 when Braun's client Justin Bieber opened for Borchetta's new signee Swift.
"Our stories were similar," Braun said. "Everyone at Big Machine — Taylor was kind, Scott was kind — everyone was kind to me and Justin when we were doing that show, and you don't forget those things. I never forgot that, and we started a friendship."
He went on to describe his company Ithaca Holdings' partnership with Big Machine as "the first move of many in building an ecosystem that allows artists to go after their dreams."
Borchetta, meanwhile, emphasized that his label would continue to operate as it has been, just under the banner of Braun's empire.
"There's not a lot of overlap between our two companies," Borchetta said. "That's why I believe Scooter was so attracted to the company — we have a lot of the things that were additive to what they're doing at Ithaca."
Read the full Billboard cover story here.
The deal sparked controversy amongst artists and industry experts when Taylor Swift published a scathing Tumblr Post about Braun acquiring the masters to her first six albums (released via Big Machine), calling the situation her "worst case scenario."
Braun and Borchetta recently gave their first interview as business partners to Billboard, but they refused to comment on Swift's response or the myriad artists who leapt to her defence afterwards.
Instead, Braun drew comparisons between himself and Borchetta, who first met in 2010 when Braun's client Justin Bieber opened for Borchetta's new signee Swift.
"Our stories were similar," Braun said. "Everyone at Big Machine — Taylor was kind, Scott was kind — everyone was kind to me and Justin when we were doing that show, and you don't forget those things. I never forgot that, and we started a friendship."
He went on to describe his company Ithaca Holdings' partnership with Big Machine as "the first move of many in building an ecosystem that allows artists to go after their dreams."
Borchetta, meanwhile, emphasized that his label would continue to operate as it has been, just under the banner of Braun's empire.
"There's not a lot of overlap between our two companies," Borchetta said. "That's why I believe Scooter was so attracted to the company — we have a lot of the things that were additive to what they're doing at Ithaca."
Read the full Billboard cover story here.
