Scooter Braun is starting a new chapter.
The record executive, who made headlines amid a feud with Taylor Swift that led the pop singer to re-record her first six albums, has announced he is retiring as a music manager after 23 years.
Braun shared the update in a lengthy Instagram post Monday reflecting on his career.
“I have been blessed to have had a ‘Forrest Gump’-like life while witnessing and taking part in the journeys of some of the most extraordinarily talented people the world has ever seen,” he wrote. “I’m constantly pinching myself and asking ‘how did I get here?’ And after 23 years this chapter as a music manager has come to an end.”
Braun has worked with some of the biggest names in music, including Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande.
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But last summer, reports emerged that many of Braun’s A-list clients were parting ways with him. Puck News reported that Bieber and Braun, who had been working together for the singer’s entire career, “haven’t talked in months,” and Billboard and People reported that Grande was splitting with Braun.
At the time, a music industry source with knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY that rumors about Braun being abandoned by his high-profile clients were “off,” insisting he was simply stepping “into his larger role” as CEO of HYBE America.
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HYBE America is the U.S. division of Hybe, the South Korean entertainment company known for managing the boy band BTS. Braun became sole CEO of HYBE America last year.
In his statement on Monday, Braun said his decision to retire from management stemmed from a desire to spend more time with his children, writing that he needs to be a “father first, a CEO second, and a manager no more.”
Braun also said his new chapter “became a reality” last summer when “one of my biggest clients and friends told me that they wanted to spread their wings and go in a new direction,” without mentioning the client’s name.
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“We had been through so much together over the last decade, but instead of being hurt I saw it as a sign,” Braun wrote. “You see, life doesn’t hand you YOUR plan, it hands you GOD’s plan.”
The Instagram post included shout-outs to many artists Braun has worked with, including Bieber and Grande, whom he said he will “continue to root for.”
Braun’s decision comes five years after his high-profile feud with Swift, which spawned the singer’s “Taylor’s Version” re-recordings. In 2019, Swift objected to Braun gaining ownership of the master recordings for her first six albums upon acquiring her old record label, Big Machine Records. Accusing Braun of “incessant, manipulative bullying,” she announced she would re-record these albums so she would own the masters.
Swift has two albums left to re-release before completing this project: “Reputation” and “Taylor Swift.”
In 2022, Braun told MSNBC Swift has “every right” to re-record her albums but criticized her for “weaponizing a fanbase” against him. “You don’t do that,” he said. “It’s very dangerous.”
Braun later sold Swift’s masters to the private equity firm Shamrock Capital Content Fund. A documentary about the masters dispute, titled “Taylor Swift vs Scooter Braun: Bad Blood,” will premiere on Max this month.
Contributing: KiMi Robinson
