SCOOTER BRAUN is the world’s biggest pop mogul and was once regarded by artists as the “golden ticket” to music stardom.
But now, 15 years after discovering Justin Bieber, the 42-year-old multi-millionaire is facing a reshuffle.
His Candian protege Justin Bieber, 29, who had been rumoured to be considering cutting ties is however, sources say, believed to be staying put.
A music insider says: “Scooter has been incredibly close to Justin ever since he discovered him on YouTube.
“Justin owes all his success to him and Scooter has carefully overseen his career for a long time.
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“There has been a lot of conversations surrounding Scooter since Demi's exit and naturally, there has been a lot of speculation about Justin.
“Fans should watch this space for what is coming up.”
There is no doubt the big-name exodus is potentially damaging to Scooter’s brand, as well as his talent management firm, SB Projects.
According to multiple industry sources, Scooter’s carefully sustained nice-guy image sometimes jars with his real-life persona.
‘Cracks in reputation’
They say he gives the impression of being a loyal, caring, family man.
But he has been accused of being just another ruthless music bigwig behind closed doors.
Scooter’s representatives have repeatedly denied such claims, blaming ex-clients filled with animosity.
But there is a feeling that his downfall could be a classic case of a mogul getting his just deserts for the way he has allegedly treated people on his rise to the top.
The New York-born businessman — real name Scott — started off selling fake IDs while a student at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
But he dropped out to become a party promoter, laying on bashes for A-listers including Eminem and Britney Spears.
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He launched SB Projects in 2007 and discovered Bieber the next year, stumbling across a video of the singer performing in a church, which had already had 60,000 hits on YouTube.
Scooter was one of the first music execs to use the power of social media to transform his artists into household names.
And that is exactly what he did with Bieber and later Grande, who already had a healthy online following from her days as a Nickelodeon child TV star.
Everything he touched seemingly turned to gold, including South Korean singer Psy — known for his viral hit Gangnam Style — whose YouTube video was the first ever to get a billion views.
He even rescued the careers of Kanye West and Bieber himself, who went off the rails before returning with career-defining 2015 album Purpose, featuring hits Sorry, Love Yourself and What Do You Mean?
Whenever artists needed a boost, Scooter was the go-to man.
But the wheels began to come off in 2019, when Taylor Swift, 33, blasted him over his purchase of country record label Big Machine, landing him control of the master recordings of her first six albums.
It meant she did not officially own her music, so was unable to make real money from the sale and performance of her records.
This led to her re-recording the songs, dubbing each one “Taylor’s Version”.
The deal understandably infuriated Swift, who already had issues with Scooter over his role in Justin’s ill-fated romance with her best pal Selena Gomez, 31.
And when Scooter later sold her master recordings to an investment company, her disdain intensified.
She vented her anger at him on social media, sparking outrage from her legions of fans towards Scooter, who allegedly received death threats.
It is believed he underestimated how Swift would react to his controversial acquisition — and her deep hatred for him — which triggered the first cracks in his nice-guy reputation.
And given Swift’s strong friendships with some of the world’s most powerful performers, it’s fair to say more sided with her than him.
Scooter is said to have given many clients the impression he was a friend first and manager second.
‘Remarkable gestures’
It’s a role he played up during Demi Lovato’s 2021 documentary, Dancing With The Devil.
In it, she told for the first time of her near-fatal overdose, with Scooter appearing alongside his new client.
He also has form for remarkable gestures, including managing to pull off the One Love Manchester concert — featuring big names such as Grande, Bieber, Coldplay, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and Liam Gallagher — in the space of just two weeks following the 2017 terror bombing at the city’s arena, which claimed 22 innocent lives.
And as his bank balance, power and do-gooder profile grew, the father of three made moves outside of music into philanthropy, including doing talks on gun control and hosting fundraisers for Hillary Clinton during her 2015 presidential bid, and in 2019 for Kamala Harris.
He was even touted as a future governor of California but, after his spat with Taylor, he backtracked on the idea.
Speaking in 2020, he said: “Recently I was attacked very publicly by someone I don’t know — someone who refused to have a conversation with me.
"What it did teach me was that if my children were a little bit older, this could have been very hard for them. And I don’t know if I’m comfortable being in public office knowing the amount of ridicule and exposure you get.”
His image took another unexpected twist the following year when he announced that he and wife Yael Cohen, the mother of his children, were divorcing.
Scooter and his ex have settled on joint custody of their kids.
He agreed to pay £50,000 a month in child support to cover the cost of raising them.
Despite his alleged fallouts with clients, the music tycoon has always maintained they have made huge money while part of his roster — as they have also been shareholders.
Indeed, according to company accounts, his artists and staff, including Bieber, Ariana and Demi, received shares totalling some £92million.
But clearly money is not always enough for huge stars who expect plain, simple, physical management as part of their deal.
With Scooter’s roster being so huge, some of his acts have believed they’ve been neglected by the mogul, resulting in claims of their careers stagnating.
Regardless of what’s happening behind the scenes, the way Scooter is going, the sooner he can stop the rumours, the better.
