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Scooter Braun has reached out to Taylor Swift amid music catalog dispute, source says

Posted at 10:45 PM, Jul 02, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-02 22:45:17-04

Scooter Braun is hoping to clear the air with Taylor Swift.

A source close to the music executive told CNN that he called Swift on Monday, after controversy over the sale of her music catalog erupted over the weekend.

“Scooter called her but she hasn’t responded to him yet,” the source said.

CNN has reached out to Swift’s representatives for comment.

The bitter battle that has the music industry taking sides started when Swift took to Tumblron Sunday to share that she was upset Braun had acquired her former record label, Big Machine Label Group.

She said that Bruan, who manages artists like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and the Zac Brown band, had bullied her in the past and called his ownership of her music catalog her “worst case scenario.”

Swift was signed with Big Machine from her 2006 self-titled debut album through 2017’s “Reputation,” before moving to Universal Music Group.

The singer claimed in her post that she was given no notice that Braun was going to purchase the company from founder Scott Borchetta as part of a reported $300 million dollar deal.

But Jake Basden, Senior Vice President Communications at Big Machine Label Group, told CNN that Swift’s dad, Scott Swift, is a shareholder in Big Machine and that Basden first alerted all of the shareholders of the pending deal with Ithaca Holdings on June 25.

“Out of courtesy, I personally texted Taylor at 9:06 p.m, June 29 to inform her prior to the story breaking on the morning of June 30 so she could hear it directly from me,” Basden said, adding, “I truly doubt that she ‘woke up to the news when everyone else did.”

Related: Taylor Swift’s dispute with Scooter Braun has people defending him

Swift wrote that she had unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate a contract with Big Machine to own her music. When she disputed the terms of their offer and decided to leave the label, she said she had to regrettably leave behind her entire catalog.

“I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past,” Swift wrote. “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.”

In the aftermath of Swift’s post, Bieber and Braun’s wife, Yael Cohen, both took to social media to defend Braun.

Swift has yet to publicly respond to their comments.

She does have new music on the way, her upcoming album, “Lover,” will be out August 23.