itfeelslike13

Miss Americana 🎬 January 31 on Netflix

Guys - It’s been announced recently that the American Music Awards will be honoring me with the Artist of the Decade Award at this year’s ceremony. I’ve been planning to perform a medley of my hits throughout the decade on the show. 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. Additionally - and this isn’t the way I had planned on telling you this news - Netflix has created a documentary about my life for the past few years. Scott and Scooter have declined the use of my older music or performance footage for this project, even though there is no mention of either of them or Big Machine Records anywhere in the film.

Scott Borchetta told my team that they’ll allow me to use my music only if I do these things: If I agree to not re-record copycat versions of my songs next year (which is something I’m both legally allowed to do and looking forward to) and also told my team that I need to stop talking about him and Scooter Braun.

I feel very strongly that sharing what is happening to me could change the awareness level for other artists and potentially help them avoid a similar fate. The message being sent to me is very clear. Basically, be a good little girl and shut up. Or you’ll be punished.

This is WRONG. Neither of these men had a hand in the writing of those songs. They did nothing to create the relationship I have with my fans. So this is where I’m asking for your help.

Please let Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun know how you feel about this. Scooter also manages several artists who I really believe care about other artists and their work. Please ask them for help with this - I’m hoping that maybe they can talk some sense into the men who are exercising tyrannical control over someone who just wants to play the music she wrote. I’m especially asking for help from The Carlyle Group, who put up money for the sale of my music to these two men.

I just want to be able to perform MY OWN music. That’s it. I’ve tried to work this out privately through my team but have not been able to resolve anything. Right now my performance at the AMA’s, the Netflix documentary and any other recorded events I am planning to play until November of 2020 are a question mark.

I love you guys and I thought you should know what’s been going on.

I participated in the contest from Universal Music Belgium to win tickets to the city of Lover concert in Paris. I had to find as much people as possible to enter their e-mail through my personal link and confirm in an e-mail afterwards. On Monday at 1.30pm when the contest closed I had 4400 points more than the second contestant. The contest had given me so much stress, anxiety and lack of sleep because I was so close to winning. I had done everything to win this contest. I woke up with it and went to bed with it. I asked everyone I know, friends from kindergarten, high school, university, the gym, my old sports school, colleagues and ex-colleagues, family and friends of our family. My parents and cousins asked all their colleagues as well. My mom and I went to a fair in our town on Saturday to ask people to help me. On Sunday I went to a fair with my aunt in another town to ask more people. On Sunday evening my mom and I went from door to door in our street to ask people if they could help me. On the final day, on Monday morning, I took the train at 6.30am to ask people at the railway station to help me before I went to work. So I was so relieved and happy that after all my hard work I won the contest! Only for Universal Music Belgium to message me I was not the winner because they disqualified me and they wouldn’t give me the reason why. They only said that I had cheated, which I truly never did! I wouldn’t even know how I could have cheated! Their computer would have picked it up anyways (which it didn’t)! After asking multiple times why, they said there were too many entries through the same IP address. I asked my colleagues and ex-colleagues when they were at work. These companies work with one and the same IP address. I also asked a lot of families and they all did it (parents and children, all from the same WiFi, same IP address). I posted something on Facebook and Twitter because I felt horrible that I was publicly called a cheater while I never did such a thing and I had been treated so unfair and disrespectful. I called universal music Belgium for an explanation. On the phone they were really unfriendly and rude to me (my mom and I each called universal music Belgium once and the lady on the phone picked up and already called me out for stalking) and now as an explanation to why I was disqualified, the IP addresses were no longer the reason, but they said people entered with more than one e-mail address. I never asked people to do that, and even if I would have, it literally says in their terms and conditions “Entrants may submit up to the maximum entries per person. Multiple entries must be submitted separately.”. It’s as if they just keep looking for things to say that can justify this. But nothing can. They also obliged me to take down my posts on Facebook and Twitter and in return they would send me a fan box (I already have all these things). Looking back at it now it looks a lot like bribery and they just want me to shut up about it so the truth can’t be out. I have been a fan for over 12 years. I did so much to win this contest and I am truly heartbroken. First of all because I didn’t get the tickets, but also because I have never been treated worse and unfairly. They keep calling me out for cheating when I never did. I always do things by the rules and I have a very strong sense of justice. If I would have lost because of the points I would have been sad, but I would have been okay with it. Now it just feels so unfair and there is nothing I can do about it. I have never been more heartbroken and this just shows me how unfair and corrupt the world we live in can be. 💔 @taylorswift @taylornation @tree-paine