Scooter Braun parting from managed artists

Scooter Braun‘s role in the music industry was left in question as artists quickly part ways with the talent manager. Sources come forward to clear the air leaving more questions than answers.

Scooter Braun has been a common name in the entertainment industry for years, especially as he has become associated with many top-tier acts. Over the years, Scooter has been brought into question for multiple situations, but today the public is left confused. Early today (August 22 at the writing of this article) it was announced that Demi Lovato would be parting ways with Scooter. Before much answers could be garnered on the situation, it was then announced that Ariana Grande too would be leaving Scooter’s management. Shortly thereafter, Justin Bieber left Scooter as well. The rapid nature of the extreme change-ups left many wondering what was happening behind the scenes at Braun’s management agency SB Projects.

The situation was left as such for numerous hours before the news had been broken by Just Jared giving what was reported to be insider information from sources. They first began by re-iterating information passed from sources to Variety which claimed that Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande had not left Braun’s management company SB Projects in total but were instead being re-distributed internally to other managers. This was supposedly done so as to lessen Braun’s workload and to allow him to focus primarily on his role as CEO of HYBE America, a company to which Braun had previously sold his company Ithica Holdings (parent company to SB Projects) for $1.05 billion in 2021. On this matter, sources had this to say,

“All of Scooter Braun’s clients are under contract and negotiations have been going on for several months as Scooter steps into his larger role as HYBE America CEO,” the source says. “People are spreading rumors based on what they know, but they are off. Scooter’s team at SB Projects are still handling both Justin and Ariana as they work through what this new structure looks like.”

Another source pinned other circumstances with the blame for why Scooter was stepping back, claiming,

 “He’s imploding. It’s a different world since the pandemic. You just can’t be an a–hole like that anymore.”

This does not seem too far out of the realm of possibility (personal opinions of the source aside) as Scooter has previously invested in ventures that envisioned a new world of entertainment following Covid-19. Back in June, it was reported that Scooter had invested in Wave, a start-up venture aimed at capitalizing in the digital market for musical entertainment and spectacle as opposed to the more traditional, in-person events we know and love.

A final source told Just Jared that the truth of the matter was Scooter is not getting out of management. Rather, he has been slowly doing so over the course of many years:

 “He’s getting out of management — he has been for years. That’s the real story.”

Given these supposed insider accounts, it seems that any number of reasons could have built up to Scooter slowly stepping down from a talent management position. Perhaps even all these sources have some grain of truth to them, and to truly understand the situation we must look at all the accounts and see the nuances to the story. With such a tumultuous year of change for Scooter, perhaps it is no true surprise that he is stepping away from talent management.

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