Scooter Braun Steps Down from Music Management After 23 Years

Scooter Braun, a renowned figure in the music industry, has officially stepped down from management to focus on family and his role as CEO of Hybe America. This announcement follows a year of speculation about his split from high-profile clients Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande.

Braun, 42, who discovered a young Justin Bieber in 2008, declared he would no longer manage artists under SB Projects, passing his clients to Allison Kaye and Jennifer McDaniels. His decision to retire from management crystallized last summer after a conversation with a significant client, who wished to pursue new directions. “Instead of being hurt, I saw it as a sign,” Braun said in a statement to Variety.

With a career spanning over two decades, Braun’s influence includes founding Schoolboy Records, Ithaca Holdings, and acquiring Big Machine Records, which held Taylor Swift’s first six albums. Last year, Braun’s departure from managing top talents like Grande, Bieber, Demi Lovato, and Idina Menzel made headlines, with Grande and Lovato moving to Brandon Creed’s Good World Management and Bieber’s wife, Hailey Baldwin, taking a more active role in his career.

“I never saw how this chapter would end, hell, I never even saw it happening,” Braun’s statement reads. “But it did. And I will cherish every moment of it. I made my plan… but it turns out I like God’s plan better. Cheers!”

Braun’s career began at 20 as the head of marketing at Jermaine Dupri’s So So Def. By 2007, he founded SB Projects, managing Bieber to his first record deal a year later. Braun also produced notable documentaries about Bieber and Lovato. In 2019, Ithaca Holdings’ $300 million acquisition of Big Machine Label Group led to a public feud with Taylor Swift over her masters. In 2021, South Korean entertainment company Hybe merged with Ithaca Holdings in a $1 billion deal, with Braun serving as Hybe America’s CEO.

The Big Machine acquisition ignited a feud between Braun and Taylor Swift over her masters, which she wanted to buy back. Swift accused Braun of bullying and attempting to sabotage her career, leading her to re-record her original albums. Swift’s re-recordings have been successful, with multiple releases between 2019 and 2023.

Braun brokered Kanye West’s 2013 deal with Adidas, leading to the Yeezy line’s success. The partnership, however, ended in 2022 due to West’s controversial remarks, with Adidas committing to donate proceeds from Yeezy sales to combat antisemitism.