- Written by Mark Savage
- BBC Music Correspondent
Scooter Braun, the music mogul who made headlines over a long-running dispute over Taylor Swift’s master recordings, is said to have been dumped by two of his biggest clients.
Colombian superstar J Balvin, who signed with the Browns in 2019, left in May and is now managed by Roc Nation.
But reports that Justin Bieber has also broken up with Brown have been denied.
Brown is one of the world’s most successful music directors, with clients that include David Guetta, The Black Eyed Peas, Ava Max, Carly Rae Jepsen, Quavo, According to his website.
He began his career as a teenager, promoting parties and events in Atlanta, before being signed to Def Jam Records.
But his big break came in 2008, when he caught 12-year-old Bieber singing on YouTube and saw star potential.
He tracked down the young man through his school, asked board members to connect him with Bieber’s mom, and signed him to a record label he had formed with R&B superstar Usher.
Bieber quickly became one of pop music’s biggest stars, and Brown guided his career through many ups and downs, including a period in 2013-2014 where the singer faced a string of arrests for vandalism, dangerous driving, and assault.
The singer eventually helped rehabilitate his image with a Comedy Central arrangement of Roast that showed his humility, paired with a raft of singles including Sorry and Love Yourself that marked his transformation from teen idol to adult star.
Ariana Grande signed with Brown in 2013, since she has released six albums, all but one of which have topped the US Billboard charts.
After the Manchester bombing, which killed 22 of her fans, Brown organized the One Love benefit concert which helped raise millions of pounds to support the families of the victims.
Grande hasn’t released an album since the 2020 placements, and is currently working on the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked.
It is not clear if she will sever all ties with Brown outside of the administration.
Demi Lovato began working with Braun in 2019, saying at the time, “Dreams have come true for me. I officially have a new manager. And not just any manager but the only Scooter Braun.”
An unnamed source told Variety that their separation was amicable. In fact, on Sunday, Brown posted a birthday message to Lovato on his Instagram story, calling her “one of the most amazing souls out there.”
The manager is perhaps best known for his feud with Taylor Swift, which began in 2019 when he bought his former record label Big Machine for $300m (£227m) through his investment group Ithaca Holdings.
This meant that he took control of the master recordings of Swift’s first six albums, which she considered an aggressive act that “stripped me out of my life’s work”.
It appears her feud was fueled in part by Brown’s relationship with Kanye West, whom he managed for two and a half years from 2015.
The rapper has constantly sought to belittle Swift, first by interrupting her acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Awards, then by recording a song in which he takes credit for her fame, and then placing a wax statue of her naked body in one of his music. videos.
Swift felt that Brown encouraged and endorsed this behavior; And he exacerbated his mischief by posing for a photo with West and Bieber that was posted to Instagram with the caption, “What’s up Taylor?”
In response, requests banned the use of her music in television shows and films—cutting off a vital source of income for Brown’s investment group. She then began re-recording all of her old material, reclaiming the albums and devaluing the originals.
Brown later sold the star’s catalog to another investment firm, Shamrock Holdings. A year later, he sold Ithaca Holdings to South Korean entertainment giant HYBE, which represents acts like BTS and NewJeans.
Brown is now CEO of HYBE America, and earlier this year helped the company purchase the American Quality Control label, whose businesses include Quavo, Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, and City Girls.
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