Taylor Swift's former manager says 'no one stole her music' and condemns pile-on against Scooter Braun

Rick Barker, who managed Taylor Swift from 2007 to 2008, contends in a Channel 4 documentary that Swift led a public pile-on against Big Machine founder Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun after Braun bought the label for $330 million in 2019. Barker says there was no theft of Swift's music and notes that Braun later sold the masters to Shamrock Capital a year after the purchase. The documentary Taylor, which airs next Tuesday, also revisits Swift's dispute over ownership of her first six albums and her decision to re-record them after leaving Big Machine for Republic Records in 2018.

During the interview, Barker says he was disappointed by Swift's decision to urge fans to target Borchetta and Braun publicly, saying 'the decision that Taylor made to turn the fans loose on Scott and Scooter, with only half of the conversation, I was a little disappointed.' He adds that death threats and people showing up at private residences followed, incidents he says should have been discussed behind the scenes. 'Scooter Braun made a very good business decision, end of story,' Barker says in the film. The documentary also notes Braun's purchase of the label in 2019 and his subsequent sale of the rights to Shamrock Capital a year later, a sequence that underscores the shifting ownership behind Swift's masters.

Swift publicly condemned Braun after he acquired the rights to her music in 2019 and subsequently began re-recording the six albums. Last year, she affirmed that she now owns the original masters, telling fans that 'All of the music I've ever made now belongs to me. I've been bursting into tears of joy... ever since I found out this is really happening.' Barker frames Swift's reversal of ownership as a landmark moment, even as he challenges the public handling of the dispute.

Barker, who says he helped establish Swift's career, reflects on their early years together. He recalls telling Swift, 'Taylor, what are your goals?' and her answer: 'I want a gold record.' He says she aimed to leave audiences with a positive impression and that this intention helped shape her rise in the music industry. 'You can't teach that in business school, you can't teach that anywhere. You either have it or you don't have it,' he says, describing the drive that accompanied her ascent while acknowledging the complexities of the business side.

The Channel 4 program Taylor also revisits Swift's school life through rarely aired recordings of an early interview, in which she discusses feeling excluded and alienated by peers. The documentary arrives ahead of Swift's new album The Life of a Showgirl and amid renewed public attention to her personal life, including an engagement to longtime boyfriend Travis Kelce reported in recent weeks. Representatives for Swift declined to provide new comment for this story, and the film presents Barker's perspective alongside Swift's documented public statements and the ongoing discussion about music ownership in the streaming era.

The documentary underscores a broader context in which Swift's public-image decisions have continually intertwined with her business interests. Barker's remarks offer one side of a debate about how—but not whether—the industry should handle disputes over masters and catalog rights, especially when high-profile artists transition between labels and pursue re-recordings. As Swift's career evolves with new music and ongoing conversations about artists' control of their work, observers note that the story remains a focal point of culture and entertainment discourse. The documentary Taylor is set to broadcast nationally in the coming days, inviting viewers to weigh Barker's account against Swift's own statements and the industry practice surrounding ownership of master recordings.