Scooter Braun Says He’s Retiring From Music Management
The man who made Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande household names will instead focus on what really matters: being a CEO.
“You can’t fire me, I quit!” That’s essentially what Scooter Braun is saying now, a little less than a year after several of his notable clients reportedly parted ways with him. The prolific music manager announced in a lengthy Instagram statement on Monday that he’s (sort of) getting out of the game, after more than two decades of handling the every need of A-list clients like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, and J Balvin.
“As my children got older, and my personal life began to take some hits, I came to the realization that my children were three superstars I wasn’t willing to lose,” Braun wrote in the statement. He said he will continue serving as both CEO and a board member at Hybe America, a subsidiary of the South Korean entertainment company that acquired his holding company back in 2021. In his own words, Braun will now be “a father first, a CEO second, and a manager no more.” So instead of being on call for superstars 24/7, he will take on the presumably less demanding job of running an entire entertainment company, the hours of which I imagine are more like 18/6.
Last summer, Braun found himself in a bit of a crisis when it appeared that two of his biggest clients (in addition to several others) were leaving him. After many denials from sources “close to Braun,” it eventually came out that both Bieber and Grande were no longer working with the man who had shepherded their careers since their YouTube and Nickelodeon days, respectively. (However, it was reported last week that Grande is maintaining a relationship with Braun and Hybe for matters that don’t involve artist management.) The party line from Team Braun at the time was that these partnerships were evolving as Braun began to focus more on his role as CEO at Hybe.
In his statement, Braun spun one of his big-name clients (he doesn’t identify who) leaving him into a positive: “One of my biggest clients and friends told me they wanted to spread their wings and go in a new direction,” Braun wrote. “We had been through so much together over the last decade, but instead of being hurt I saw it as a sign.” I’m sure that sign read, “Quit Your Job!” and was held aloft by a very satisfied Swiftie.
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