LOS ANGELES – Scooter Braun is without doubt one of the most recognizable names within the music enterprise for his singular work as an government and entrepreneur. He’s managed lots of your favourite artists, propelling the likes of Justin Bieber to stratospheric fame, and earned the ire of Taylor Swift and her legions of followers for his enterprise practices.

On Friday, rumors circulated on-line that Justin Bieber was leaving Braun, his longtime supervisor — and the person credited with discovering him. Within the days that adopted, hypothesis grew, and media retailers started reporting that a few of Braun’s different hype-profile purchasers like Ariana Grande, and Demi Lovato have been additionally parting methods with him — all of which has but to be confirmed.

Braun hasn’t issued a public assertion, however did tweet in jest, writing “Breaking news… I’m no longer managing myself.”

Because the story continues to unfold, right here’s every thing we all know — and every thing we don’t — about what is going on with Scooter Braun and his highly effective shopper roster.

Who has Scooter Braun managed?

With out affirmation from artists, their groups, or Braun himself, modifications to Braun’s roster are conjectural. AP reached out to each artist listed as being managed by Braun on the SB Tasks web site and solely heard again from a choose few.

The positioning mentions his firm’s “past and present work” and consists of artists Braun not works with, together with Hilary Duff and J Balvin.

Representatives for Carly Rae Jepsen, BabyJake, and Asher Roth confirmed to AP that these artists not work with Braun and haven’t for fairly a while.

An individual near Idina Menzel advised AP the singer is not managed by Braun however was not licensed to talk publicly.

A consultant for pop star Ava Max confirmed that she remains to be represented by Braun.

OK, however why is Scooter Braun a giant deal?

Within the early 2000s, Braun dropped out of Emory School to throw events for elite musicians touring to Atlanta: Ludacris, Eminem, even Britney Spears. Jermaine Dupri recruited him to grow to be So So Def’s government director of promoting. Later, in 2007, Braun began his personal expertise administration firm, SB Tasks, the place in 2008, he’d uncover Justin Bieber on YouTube, rising the teenager heartthrob’s profile by using social media.

SB Tasks encompasses just a few ventures: Administration, which included purchasers like Bieber, Ariana Grande, J Balvin, and for a short-stint, Kanye West; Sheba Publishing, a three way partnership with Common Music Group Publishing; and Schoolboy Information, a file label first placed on the map by Braun’s shopper Asher Roth and his 2009 hit “I Love College.”

Braun operated his assorted companies under one entity called Ithaca Holdings.

In the midst of his incredible success, in 2019, Braun bought Big Machine Records, the label that originally signed Taylor Swift and released her first six records. Its CEO Scott Borchetta stayed in place. With the purchase, Braun purchased ownership to Swift’s master recordings, which he sold to an investment fund the following year. As a result, Swift announced that she would re-record her albums to own her new masters in a project called “Taylor’s Version.”

In April 2021, Braun sold Ithaca Holdings to HYBE — the publicly traded company formerly known as Big Hit Entertainment, best known for creating the K-pop group BTS — in a $1.05 billion deal. According to the corporate filling, Braun would receive about 462,380 shares of the company (totaling $86.2 million) while his star clients Grande and Bieber would each receive 53,557 shares, or almost $11.0 million apiece.

In January 2023, he became the sole CEO of HYBE America, having previously shared the title after the merger with Big Hit’s Lenzo Yoon.

Back up — what is Braun doing with HYBE?

When Braun’s Ithaca Holdings merged with the globally minded HYBE in April 2021, it became one of the largest music companies in the world. Just a few months later, in July, Bang Si-hyuk, the CEO of Bit Hit Entertainment/HYBE stepped down, Park Ji-won took over, and Lenzo Yoon and Scooter Braun were named co-CEOs of HYBE America. In January, Braun became the sole CEO — which means he’s busy.

There has been speculation that if Braun’s artists are leaving SB Projects management, it is because Braun is slowly placing his focus on HYBE America instead of acting as an artist manager. But so far, there’s been no confirmation that’s what’s happening.

What does a music manager do?

The role of a music manager is an elusive one, based largely on the kind of relationship between the businessperson and the musician. The best music managers — and we’re excluding business and tour managers here, whose specialties are in the title — are fiercely organized, dedicated to the success of their artist. They possess a deep understanding of the industry and the artist’s place within it.

They work to ensure their artist’s projects run smoothly, connecting teams to reach a particular goal. Think of them as the behind-the-scenes engine responsible for allowing the artist to succeed. Often, they invest in and help develop an artist, and tackle anything from creative production to day-to-day operations.

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