As Big Machine Label Group (BMLG) and Taylor Swift reignite their feud on social media, the pop star's publicist revealed that Big Machine owes Taylor Swift 7.9 million dollars of unpaid royalties.
The 10-time Grammy winner took to social media to express her dismay about being unable to perform her old songs on television for the upcoming American Music Awards (AMA), where she will be awarded as Artist of the Decade.
"Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun have now said that I'm not allowed to perform my old songs on television because they claim that would be re-recording my music before I'm allowed to next year," Swift's Tweet reads.
In addition, she claims that Borchetta and Braun did not allow her to use her older music or performance footage for a Netflix documentary that will feature her life the past years. "Scott Borchetta told my team that they'll allow me to use my music only if I do these things: agree to not re-record copycat versions of my songs next year and also told my team that I need to stop talking about him and Scooter Braun."
Big Machine responded to Swift's accusations in a statement posted on their website, claiming they were shocked to read the pop star's statement on social media.
"At no point did we say Taylor could not perform on the AMAs or block her Netflix special," the statement states. "In fact, we do not have the right to keep her from performing live anywhere. Since Taylor’s decision to leave Big Machine last fall, we have continued to honor all of her requests to license her catalog to third parties as she promotes her current record in which we do not financially participate."
Swift's publicist, Tree Paine, responded to Big Machine's statement on Twitter. Paine revealed that the Vice President of the Rights Management and Business Affairs of Big Machine sent a message to Swift's team on October 28 that says BMLG will not issue "licenses for existing recordings or waivers of its re-recording restrictions in connection with these two projects: The Netflix documentary and The Alibaba "Double Eleven" event."
Paine's statement also claims that Borchetta rejected the request for both American Music Awards and Netflix.
"Please notice in Big Machine's statement, they never actually deny either claim Taylor said last night in her post. Lastly, Big Machine is trying to deflect and make this about money by saying she owes them but, an independent, professional auditor has determined that Big Machine owes Taylor 7.9 million dollars of unpaid royalties over several years."
