Justin Bieber reportedly splits from manager Scooter Braun
Justin Bieber is allegedly parting ways with his longtime manager, Scooter Braun.
Details of the rumoured split were first shared by an outlet called Puck News, which reported that multiple sources have come forward, stating that Bieber is moving to end his working relationship with Braun.
It also claims that the two now have scarce contact with one another, and haven’t spoken to each other “in months”.
Braun has been the manager to the Canadian pop star since the beginning of his career, and although reasons behind their split have not yet come to light, the decision seems to fit into the large overhaul of things that Bieber and his wife, Hailey, have embarked on recently.
As highlighted by Consequence, the singer-songwriter has created a whole new structure of those who work around him in the time since he cancelled his global tour last year. This has included him firing his agency, CAA, replacing his longtime lawyer with a new legal team and creating a partnership with Lou Taylor, one of the managers of Britney Spears’ controversial conservatorship.
In the time since his cancelled tour, he has also sold the rights to his music to the Blackstone-backed Hipgnosis Songs Capital for $200 million earlier this year.
If the move to part ways with Braun do turn out to be true, it may still be a while until ties can be completely severed. At time of writing, neither Bieber nor Braun have confirmed any split or addressed the rumours, however, according to Puck, action is already underway for their relationship to finally come to an end upon the contract’s conclusion.
Lawyers are also reportedly involved in the situation, and the world-famous musician is said to be “poking around for a new agency or manager”.
Braun has structured a large portion of his career around his management for Bieber, although he has faced backlash in recent years due to his role in Taylor Swift’s battle to own her own music.
The controversy first started back in 2019, when Swift confirmed her plans to re-record songs from her first six records in a bid to take control over her music. This was launched after Braun and his media holding company, Ithaca Holdings LLC, acquired Swift’s old label, Big Machine Label Group.
The story then hit headlines again in late 2020 after Swift confirmed that the ownership of her back catalogue had, behind her back, changed hands again for the second time within two years.
At the time, news broke of Braun selling the rights to Swift’s music to the private equity company Shamrock Holdings in a $300million (£230m), and the singer shared a statement saying that the master recordings “were not for sale to me”.
“This was the second time my music had been sold without my knowledge,” Swift said. “The letter told me that they wanted to reach out before the sale to let me know, but that Scooter Braun had required that they make no contact with me or my team, or the deal would be off.”
Swift’s statement also claimed that Braun would continue to profit from her catalogue “for many years”.
Addressing the incident in October last year, Braun admitted that he regretted how he handled the sale of the singer’s master recordings.
“I would’ve [handled it differently now]. I learned an important lesson from that,” he said. “I think a lot of things got lost in translation. I think that when you have a conflict with someone, it’s very hard to resolve it if you’re not willing to have a conversation.”
He continued: “I didn’t appreciate how that all went down. I thought it was unfair. But I also understand, from the other side, they probably felt it was unfair, too. So I choose to look at it as a learning lesson, a growing lesson, and I wish everyone involved well. And I’m rooting for everyone to win because I don’t believe in rooting for people to lose.”
Another artist, The Kid LAROI, also parted ways with Scooter Braun’s SB Projects after less than four months with the management company back in 2021.
Reports at the time said that the split was “amicable”, and that LAROI was now being represented by veteran artist manager Adam Leber, whose Rebel Management company also has Lil Nas X and Labrinth as clients.
In other news, at the start of the year, it was also confirmed than Braun had become the sole CEO of HYBE America, the US division of South Korean entertainment giant HYBE.
Elsehwhere, for Justin Bieber, it was reported in March that the artist had regained mobility in his face after being diagnosed with partial facial paralysis in June last year.
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
