Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift knew for months that the rights to her old tracks and her former record label Big Machine were up for sale but she didn't do anything about it.
A source told Page Six on Tuesday that Swift was offered the chance to buy her own music but "walked away" from her tracks in October 2018, after a 10-month negotiation over the sale of Big Machine Records to mega manager Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings.
"In the entire time of negotiations, she never once reached out about wanting her masters," the source added.
In a scathing Tumblr post that Swift shared on Sunday, she claimed she was blindsided by Braun's acquisition and "grossed out."
"For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. Instead, I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and 'earn' one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in," Swift wrote.
"I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, [former Big Machine owner] Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future," she added in her post.
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The 29-year-old singer said Braun acquiring her music catalogue, from her 2006 self-titled debut album through 2017's 'Reputation' was a "worst-case scenario."
Following Swift's post, former Big Machine owner Scott Borchetta published text messages online allegedly sent by Swift on November 19, 2018, in which she appeared to say that a new deal with a different label meant "more to me" than owning her songs.
"Since communication ran dry on our negotiations, I've done what I told you I would do and gone out exploring other options. Owning my masters was very important to me, but I've since realized that there are things that mean even more to me in the bigger picture. I had a choice whether to bet on my past or to bet on the future and I think knowing me, you can guess which one I chose," Swift allegedly wrote to Borchetta about signing with Universal Music Group.
According to Page Six, Braun was under a non-disclosure agreement, which meant Swift wasn't aware that Braun and his company were the ones lining up to buy the label.
"She decided to walk away. In the 10 months since she hasn't reached out once, so how passionate could she have been about them?" the source said.
The outlet confirmed that as soon as the report that Braun acquired the label was published, he reached out to Swift and her camp numerous times to privately discuss the deal. Swift hasn't contacted Braun.
"Braun has been nothing but supportive of her career and one of her biggest fans," the source said.
"Scott Borchetta never gave Taylor Swift an opportunity to purchase her masters, or the label, outright with a check in the way he is now apparently doing for others," Swift's attorney, Donald Passman told the outlet.
In November, last year, the 'Love Story' singer quit Big Machine Music and signed a new deal with Universal Music Group, which means Braun wouldn't have any legal claim over the rights to her recently released singles 'Me!' and 'You Need to Calm Down' and her upcoming seventh album 'Lover'.