Artists Who've Signed Bad Record Deals

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We haven’t even reached the full anniversary of Hot Girl Summer, and some is going on with Megan Thee Stallion‘s music. As you may have heard, the Houston Hottie recently took to Instagram to let fans know that she’s currently in a legal battle with her label, 1501 Certified Entertainment, after her attempt to renegotiate her contract was met with much resistance.

Megan claims in the suit that 1501 set up her contract so they get 60 percent of her recording income, which means she pockets less than half of what she earns from music sales. The suit also claims that her advance for getting signed to the label was only $10,000 as opposed to the 50K she was suppose to get.

But label runner, and former MLB star Carl Crawford says Megan is a liar and nothing she’s saying is the truth. He told Billboard,

“I wrote her a check for $50,000, and it’s signed with her name on the check. We can show you the proof. That’s another thing— I got all my receipts. They know it. I got all the receipts. We gave her a $10,000 advance when we first signed her and gave it to her mother. I don’t know what happened [with that].”

After the dispute with Meg, 1501 denied her from dropping any new music. However, the powers that be had other plans. According to TMZ, a district judge in Harris County Texas granted Megan a temporary restraining order which prevents her label from blocking the music she plans to drop on Friday.

Unfortunately, Meg isn’t the first, and won’t be the last, artist to get caught up in a janky deal. Hit the flip for more.

Kelis 

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In a recent interview with The Guardian, Kelis revealed that she was “blatantly lied to and tricked” by “the Neptunes and their management and their lawyers and all that stuff” when she signed her initial deal.

Toni Braxton

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Braxton sold 15 million copies of her second album in 1996, so fans were shocked when she filed bankruptcy that year after claiming she was 50M in debt due to an outrageous contract with Arista/LaFace.

Bad Boy Artists

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Remember when The Lox launched a “Free the Lox” campaign in 2005, begging to be released from the label. And just last week, Mase called out Bad Boy label owner Diddy for stiffing him on his publishing. Name any artist from the infamous label, and surely they’ll have a story to tell.

Jojo

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After a 7-year battle, Jojo was finally freed from her label Background back in 2014.

TLC 

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One of the biggest stories in bad record contract history is that of TLC’s. The group sold $10 million and still had to file for bankruptcy.

Prince

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The Purple One has been comparing the industry to slavery since he hit the scene in the early 70s. He went to war with Warner Bros. in the 90s over his contract, and even changed his name to a symbol, plus rocked the word “slave” on his face to prove a point.

Jeezy