Scooter Braun Announces Retirement from Music Management After 23 Years: ‘I Will Cherish Every Moment’

Scooter Braun is getting out of the music management business.

The 42-year-old whose client roster has included  Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato and Dan + Shay, announced his retirement from management. He plans to remain CEO of entertainment company HYBE America.

via People:

Braun shared the news in a lengthy Instagram statement, beginning with a memory of his first time managing an artist, Cato, in Atlanta at age 19. “Along the way I have had so many experiences I could never have dreamt of,” he wrote.

“I have been blessed to have had a ‘Forrest Gump’-like life while witnessing and taking part in the journeys of some of the most extraordinarily talented people the world has ever seen. I’m constantly pinching myself and asking ‘how did I get here?’ And after 23 years this chapter as a music manager has come to an end,” said Braun.

“It’s a strange feeling because I think I have wanted this for a while, but I was truly afraid to answer the question ‘who would I be without them?’ I was really just 19 years old when I started. So for my entire adult life I played the role of an artist manager on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” he continued. “And for 20 years I loved it. It’s all I had known.”

“But as my children got older, and my personal life took some hits, I came to the realization that my kids were 3 superstars I wasn’t willing to lose,” wrote the father of three, who shares sons Levi and Jagger as well as daughter Hart with ex-wife Yael Cohen. (Braun filed for divorce from Cohen in July 2021, and it was finalized in September 2022.)

“The sacrifices I was once willing to make I could no longer justify. It was time to step into a new role,” wrote Braun, who’s been the CEO of HYBE America for three years alongside professional partner Bang Si-Hyuk, the international company’s chairman. “[He] has a vision I truly believe in. But even beyond that he has become a true friend who understands where I must be in my life these days. And that is a father first, a CEO second, and a manager no more.”

Braun explained he’s been thinking of stepping away from management for “the past two years,” though the idea began to feel more real in summer 2023 — as “one of my biggest clients and friends told me that they wanted to spread their wings and go in a new direction.”

“We had been through so much together over the past decade, but instead of being hurt I saw it as a sign,” he added.

In his retirement announcement, Braun continued, “You see, life doesn’t hand you YOUR plan, it hands you GOD’s plan. And God has been pushing my in this direction for some time.”

“I have nothing but love for those I have worked with over the years, and as we develop a different working relationship, I will always be in their corner to consult and support them whether it be directly or from afar,” he said. “Every client I have had the privilege of working with has changed my life, and I know many of them are just beginning to see the success they deserve. I will cheer for every single one of them.”

After reflecting on his time working with acts including Andrew Watt, Lil Dicky, Tori Kelly, J Balvin, Lovato, Zac Brown Band, Martin Garrix, David Guetta, Steve Angello, Carly Rae Jepsen, PSY, Quavo, Kanye West, YG, The Kid LAROI, Dan+ Shay, Asher Roth and Usher, Braun explained his decision to step away from management.

Grande and Bieber reached new successes at the end of 2023, leading Braun to reflect on working with both acts since the beginning of their careers and watching them “change the world and make history” ever since.

“There has been a lot said about what is happening in our company… and in my career,” said the CEO, who came under fire in 2019 for becoming the owner of Taylor Swift‘s music catalog after his company Ithaca Holdings acquired her former label, Big Machine Label Group, for $300 million from Scott Borchetta, who worked with Swift from 2006 until she left Big Machine for Universal Music Group in 2018.

Additionally, Braun made headlines after becoming sole CEO of HYBE America last year — as news of several of his clients opted to no longer work with him surfaced around the same time.

“When we had success I smiled, and when we were attacked I always tried to take the high road. But for the last 3 years I have begin to feel that taking the high road has created confusion and ambiguity as to who we are,” he wrote, noting that colleagues Allison Kaye and Jennifer McDaniels will now handle managerial duties.

In addition to his work at HYBE (which features acts including NewJeans, TXT, LE SSERAFIM, Seventeen, ILLIT, The Scarlet Opera, Ava Max) as well as Big Machine Label Group and WeVerse, Braun will “serve as a national board member of Make A Wish and help individuals and communities through our family’s Braun Foundation,” he explained.

“So yes, it’s been 23 your ears. And yes, this chapter has come to an end. But the great Berry Gordy once told me ‘young man, it never ends the way you wanted, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.’ That wisdom has proven to be correct,” said Braun.

“I never saw how this chapter would end, hell, I never even saw it happening. But it did. And I will cherish every moment of it. I made my plan… but it turns out I like God’s plan better,” he added. “Cheers!”

He’s had quite the career in music management. We wish him the best on his next endeavors.

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