Who is Danny Rukasin? Billie Eilish's manager likes, retweets, and deletes post claiming Taylor Swift prevents other artists from shining

Over the last weekend, singer-songwriter Billie Eilish’s manager Danny Rukasin took to X to like, repost, and later delete a tweet that read, “Taylor Swift breaking her neck doing everything to prevent other artists from shining.”

The post was originally made by @jdkaknak and also contained an image comparing Taylor Swift's rumored competition with fellow musicians. It claimed that in June 2017, Katy Perry released a new album following which the Blank Space songstress reportedly “put up entire discog on Spotify.”

Likewise, in January 2023, after SZA was “predicted at #1 for a fourth week,” Swift allegedly dropped “new album versions to block SZA.” The post further claimed that in the wake of Billie Eilish’s new album Hit Me Hard and Soft in May 2024, Taylor allegedly dropped “new digital versions” of her latest album The Tortured Poets Department “to block Billie.”

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Billie Eilish’s manager has over two decades of experience in the music industry

Danny Rukasin has been a prominent music manager for the last 23 years and has represented artists, producers, and songwriters alike. He began his career in the late 1990s as a trombone player for the pop-punk band The Hippos but later became a full-time manager in the early 2000s.

He is the partner and co-owner of the Los Angeles-based management, publishing, and recording label Best Friends Music, which he co-founded in 2019 and represents artists like Bishop Briggs.

He co-manages Billie Eilish and her collaborator and producer brother Finneas with Brandon Goodman. He first met the brother-sister duo in late 2015.

Danny Rukasin also manages singer-songwriter Role Model and folk/ R&B/ soul duo Oliver Riot. Besides, he is the co-manager of up-and-coming artist Jordan Suaste and represents North America for Australian singer-songwriter and producer flowerkid.

Danny Rukasin also manages songwriter and producer Eric Palmquist and the duo, The Gifted.

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Taylor Swift’s launched bonus editions of her latest album five days after Billie Eilish's new release

In March 2024, during an interview with Billboard, Billie Eilish accused artists of releasing multiple vinyl editions of their albums, citing it as "frustrating" and “wasteful” for the environment.

While she did not take anyone’s name in particular, fans of Taylor Swift speculated that the Oscar winner’s remark was directed at her. In response, the following month, Eilish took to her Instagram Story and clarified that she wasn’t “singling anyone out,” and was rather blaming the “industry-wide systematic issues.”

“Okay so it would be so awesome if people would stop putting words into my mouth and actually read what i said in that Billboard article… & when it comes to variants, so many artists release them - including ME! which I clearly state in the article. The climate crisis is now and it’s about all of us being part of the problem and trying to do better sheesh,” Billie wrote.

Fast forward to May 2024. On the 17th, Billie Eilish unveiled her new album Hit Me Hard & Soft. Five days later, Taylor Swift launched bonus editions and remixes of The Tortured Poets Department alongside the remix of her single Fortnight in collaboration with producer BLOND:ISH, who is also a climate activist.

This led Eilish’s fans to speculate that Swift intentionally made the “move” to “block” Billie’s album from succeeding. Danny Rukasin’s now-removed retweet further fuelled the speculations. Notably, neither Taylor Swift nor Billie Eilish has commented on the same.