Sky Ferreira has spoken of how the music industry is full of “bullies” who exploit loop holes to “fuck over” young artists, in an Instagram Story defending Taylor Swift.
Singer and actor Ferreira was speaking out over how Swift’s back catalogue is being sold off to music manager Scooter Braun, who reps the likes of Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Kanye West. Swift has claimed Braun’s move is a calculated attempt to prevent her from wrestling back ownership of her early master recordings.
Showing solidarity with the pop legend, Ferreira said Swift’s predicament is commonplace in the music industry.
“I signed contracts when I was 15 and I’m still paying the consequences for it; every contract I have ever signed has been set up to take advantage of me,” she wrote in the lengthy post. “The entertainment industry is filled with under-qualified bullies and morons with way too much power for their own good.”
Ferreira also claimed she had been “gas-lighted” by several music executives in the past and had been “mentally abused countless times.”
She advised new artists: “Look out for yourself and your future. Do not let people pressure you into giving away your rights and don’t settle for less when it comes to your future and your work. As an artist you have the ability to save yourself from these situations and the world will listen despite the gatekeepers.”
The deal with Braun reportedly includes the ownership of Swift’s first six records, from her 2006 self-titled debut album to 2014’s ‘1989’, to her latest, ‘Reputation’.
Swift has since called Braun out for his years-long “incessant, manipulative bullying”.
“Like when Kim Kardashian orchestrated an illegally recorded snippet of a phone call to be leaked and then Scooter got his two clients together to bully me online about it,” she wrote. “Or when his client, Kanye West, organised a revenge porn music video which strips my body naked. Now Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.”
Justin Bieber later jumped to Braun’s defence, saying that they both “loved” Swift but claimed that her post was intended “to get sympathy” and encourage her fans to “go and bully Scooter”. He pleaded with Swift to open the channels of communication.
Halsey and Todrick Hall are also among the artists to have jumped to Swift’s defence over the matter.
Sky Ferreira meanwhile, recently released the dark and brooding ‘Downhill Lullaby‘, taken from her long-awaited upcoming new album ‘Masochism‘ – her first since 2013 debut ‘Night Time, My Time‘.
Taylor Swift’s new album ‘Lover’ will come out next month.