Accepting the inaugural kudo at Billboard's Women in Music Awards, the 'Lover' singer addresses her on-going feud with the record executive after he acquired the masters of her first six albums.

• Dec 13, 2019

AceShowbiz - Taylor Swift took aim at Scooter Braun during her acceptance speech at Billboard's Women in Music Awards on Thursday night (December 12), slamming the music mogul and addressing the "toxic male privilege" in the music industry.

The 30-year-old singer was presented with the inaugural Woman of the Decade gong at the star-studded awards ceremony, and didn't hold back as she took to the stage to accept the prize.

In her lengthy speech, Taylor addressed her feud with record executive Braun since he acquired her old record label, Big Machine, and with it the masters to the "Shake It Off" singer's first six albums.

While Taylor sought to buy the recordings from her former label, Braun refused, and she now plans to re-record her first six albums in the near future.

"Lately there has been a new shift that has affected me personally and that I feel is a potentially harmful force in our industry. And, as your resident loud person, I feel the need to bring it up," she told the crowd at the awards. "And that is the unregulated world of private equity coming in and buying up our music as if it was real-estate. As if it's an app or a shoe line."

"This just happened to me, without my approval, consultation or consent. After I was denied the chance to purchase my music outright, my entire catalog was sold to Ithaca Holdings in a deal that I'm told was funded by the Soros family, 23 Capital and the Carlyle Group. And yet, to this day, none of these investors have ever bothered to contact me or my team directly.... To ask me how I might feel about the new owner of my art.

"Scooter never contacted me or my team to discuss it prior to the sale or even when it was announced. I'm fairly certain he knew exactly how I would feel about it though."

Taylor then referenced the responses she received from some of her male peers in the industry amid her feud with Braun, insisting its the perfect example of sexism in the music world.

"Let me just say that the definition of the toxic male privilege in our industry is people saying, 'But he's always been nice to me,' when I'm raising valid concerns about artists and rights to own their music," she continued. "And of course he's nice to you! If you're in this room, you have something he needs."

"Private equity is what enabled this man to think, according to his own social media posts, that he could 'buy me'. But I'm obviously not going willing."

The "Lover" star went on to praise those who came forward in support of her stance against Braun, as well as her devoted fan base.