Judge rules in favor of Megan Thee Stallion in her contract war with 1501 Certified Entertainment
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Megan Thee Stallion obtained a tentative victory over her record label 1501 Certified Entertainment. Megan has obtained a temporary restraining order that allows her to release songs against the wishes of the label after the judge ruled in her favor.
Megan Thee Stallion claimed her label, 1501 Certified Entertainment, is not paying her and may be impeding the release of her album, 'Traumazine'. Megan – official name Megan Pete — claims in a now-deleted Instagram post from February 2020 that she has never gotten paid from 1501 "in her life." She has long indicated a desire to quit the independent Houston label run by ex-baseball player Carl Crawford. On March 21, 1501, countersued the rapper over the definition of an 'album,' saying that 2021's 'Something for Thee Hotties' did not meet the criteria for being considered an album.
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The countersuit followed Megan's original February 2022 complaint, in which she claimed 'Something' counts as an album and helps her meet her duties to the label. Megan's current complaint follows her earlier claims against 1501, in which she claimed the label stopped her from releasing new music when she attempted to renegotiate her contract. And, on August 11, the rapper chose to release her latest album, 'Traumazine', following a hampered rollout plagued by song and cover-art leaks, implying in fresh tweets that the leaks might have been sabotage from 1501.
An album, according to Megan, is a 45-minute music project. By that standard, 'Something for Thee Hotties' is a legitimate album because it lasts exactly 45 minutes and two seconds longer. If Megan's definition of an album is upheld in court, her contract with 1501 will be completed, and she will be free of the label and Crawford, whom she has repeatedly dragged in her tweets.
'Something for Thee Hotties', according to 1501 Certified Entertainment, is not an album and should be considered a mixtape. 'Something', according to 1501, does not meet the 45-minute standard of an album since it is "made up of 21 recordings and includes spoken interlude recordings on which MTS does not appear as well as several previously released recordings." Rather, the label claims that 'Something' only has 29 minutes of original content. "This is yet another absurd attempt by 1501 to disregard Megan’s album and squeeze more money and more free work out of her for as long as possible," Megan's lawyer, Brad Hancock, told Complex. "We will ask the court to protect Megan from this type of abuse."
According to Rolling Stone, Megan claimed in an updated filing on August 18 that 1501 may also try to devalue her latest album, 'Traumazine'. The company's lawyer, Steven Zager, told the magazine that the label still wants to "really analyze the new album" and does not "want to be unreasonable." Megan's latest complaint formally requests that a judge rule that Traumazine and 'Something' both count as albums, completing her contract with 1501.
Now, Megan Thee Stallion is reported to have won a round in her contract dispute with 1501 Certified Entertainment on December 28. As a consequence, the 'H Town' beauty released her latest album 'Suga'.
Megan Thee Stallion just won a round in her contract war w/ 1501 Certified Entertainment
— Nancy Dillon (@Nancy__Dillon) December 29, 2022
The label wanted judge to rule “Something for Thee Hotties” doesn’t qualify as album under her contract, so 1 more still owed
Judge just DENIED the motion, so dispute proceeds to trial
The injunction had now been slated to expire on March 16. However, a Texas District Court judge prolonged it on Friday. A date has not yet been determined, but it will be within a week after the hearing on April 3rd.
Previously, Megan's label 1501 was said to be attempting to prevent her from releasing songs because she wanted to renegotiate her contract. She sought to renegotiate the contract because, after signing a management agreement with Roc Nation, they brought a few items to Megan's notice that she was unaware of. Megan claimed that she was approximately 20 years old when she signed it and didn't completely comprehend the language. She was also intent on moving herself and her mother out of the ghetto at the time, which is why she agreed to the agreement in the first place, which included a $10,000 advance.