Taylor Swift is enlisting the help of Carlyle Group, a minority investor in the company that owns her music catalog, to allow her to perform her songs at the American Music Awards and in an upcoming documentary, according to a statement the recording artist and composer released Thursday night on Tumblr and Twitter.
Carlyle Group spokeswoman Christa Zipf declined to comment.
In June, Ithaca Holdings LLC, a media holding company led by music producer Scooter Braun, bought Big Machine Label Group, an independent record label founded by Scott Borchetta.
The Carlyle Group, which initially invested in Ithaca in 2017, also supported the acquisition as a minority investor out of the firm's $13 billion private equity fund Carlyle Partners VI, which takes controlling interests and minority stakes in six sectors including consumer, media and retail. Jay Sammons, head of Carlyle's global consumer, media and retail team, is on Ithaca's board.
"Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun have now said that I'm not allowed to perform my old songs on television (at the American Music Awards) because they claim that would be re-recording my music before I'm allowed to next year," Ms. Swift said in the statement. She also said the pair declined to allow her to use her older music or performance footage in an upcoming Netflix documentary about her life.
Big Machine owns Taylor Swift's music catalog and releases music of artists including Reba McEntire, Sheryl Crow, Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett, Rascal Flatts and Lady Antebellum. It is also a music publisher for songwriters including Luke Combs, Jonathan Singleton and Brandy Clark.
Big Machine said in a statement: "As Taylor Swift's partner for over a decade, we were shocked to see her Tumblr statements yesterday based on false information. At no point did we say Taylor could not perform on the AMAs or block her Netflix special. In fact, we do not have the right to keep her from performing live anywhere."
The company also says that Ms. Swift owes millions of dollars and multiple assets to Big Machine.
"Despite our persistent efforts to find a private and mutually satisfactory solution, Taylor made a unilateral decision last night to enlist her fan base in a calculated manner that greatly affects the safety of our employees and their families," the company said.
