16 Times Singers Stood Up And Called Out The Music Industry

Buzz Feed

06-02-2025

Thanks to platforms like TikTok and Spotify, artists don't necessarily need a splashy record deal to make a popular hit. However, for artists who are signed, the label is still the big boss controlling a lot of their career. A recording contract comes with a lot of pros, but there can also be a fair number of cons.
Here are 16 times singers called out their record labels or the music industry:
1. Accepting the Best New Artist award at the 2025 Grammys, Chappell Roan said, "I told myself that if I ever won a Grammy and got to stand up here before the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels in the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and health care, especially developing artists. I got signed so young, I got signed as a minor. When I got dropped, I had zero job experience under my belt, and like most people, I had…quite a difficult time finding a job in the pandemic and [could not] afford insurance. It was devastating to feel so committed to my art and feel so betrayed by the system and dehumanized. If my label had prioritized it, I could have been provided care for a company I was giving everything to."
CBS / Via youtube.com
She continued, "Record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection. Labels, we got you, but do you got us?"
Her former label has not publicly responded to her comments.
2. In 1995, TLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on the heels of their successful album CrazySexyCool. At the 1996 Grammys, member Chili said, "We're not gonna sugarcoat anything anymore. We've been quiet long enough...We are the biggest-selling female group ever — 10 million albums worldwide. We have worked very hard. We have been in this business for five years, and we are broke as broke can be."
She continued, "And we're not trying to be a sad story. If that was the case, we would've been on everybody's talk show talking about how broke we are. We haven't done that. I know it's hard to believe because we've sold so many albums, but it is possible. That's the deal here, so, and we're not happy at all."
At the time, reps for Arista Records and LaFace Records told the LA Times that the band members had been appropriately compensated under a "fair, industry-standard agreement."
The group and their label later settled a multimillion dollar lawsuit. It resulted in a contract that was more fair.
In 2023, Chili alleged to People that, because of bad contracts, the band members were unfairly compensated for album sales and being charged for "gifts" from their label. She said, "When money came in, we were splitting, like, $5,000."
She continued, "We're the reason [LaFace parent company] Arista Records first got security. We kind of held Clive Davis hostage, like, 'You're the head guy. How do we fix this?'"
3. Appearing on the podcast We Need to Talk in 2025, Cher Lloyd alleged she could tell "the craziest stories" of what's been said to her or been taken away from her because she "refused to go and hook up with people." She said, "I remember, once, while I lived in the US and I was promoting my album in the US, I walked into the record label at the time, and they hadn't given me a promotional budget to promote this album. We spent millions on this album, but there's no budget to go get people to hear it? So I walk in, and I say, 'Look, I really need some cash to try and push this record.' Basically told no, but what I needed to do to make this record take off is hit some of the clubs and find out where [Justin] Bieber is, and I should go try to get with him."
She continued, "Now, this is going back years ago. Years ago. I was a teenager, but I was very much with my [now] husband at that time. He was even stood in that office while I was told they weren't gonna spend any money on the album —pushing the album — but I was to go hookup with someone megafamous and basically leech off the back of someone else's fame.
Was I not good enough? Was I not good enough to invest in that you would rather use me in that way?"
Cher's former label has not publicly responded to her claims.
4. Per HuffPost, in a 2024 Instagram Live, M.I.A. reportedly alleged that, after she signed to Roc Nation, "The first thing [ Jay-Z ] asked me to do was get plastic surgery." She said, "What women do you know who hasn't had plastic surgery around [Jay-Z]? All of them have. I'm the only one who didn't..." She also alleged Azealia Banks advised her to bleach her skin. She said, "I'm not going to bleach my skin, no I'm not going to get a fucking nose job, no I'm not going to get fucking filler."
Neither Jay-Z, Azealia Banks, nor Roc Nation have publicly responded to M.I.A.'s claims.
5. In 2020, Megan Thee Stallion sued her then-record label, alleging her contract was "not only entirely unconscionable, but ridiculously so" and enabled the label to "literally do nothing, while at the same time taking for themselves the vast majority of [her] income from all sources." In an Instagram Live, she reportedly said, "1501 don't want me to put out no music. All I did was ask to renegotiate my contract, then it became a whole big thing."
She continued, "When I signed, I didn't really know what was in my contract. I was young. I think I was like 20, and I ain't know everything that was in my contract. So when I got with Roc Nation, I got management, real management. I got real lawyers. They was like, 'Do you know that this is in your contract?' And I was like, 'Oh, damn, that's crazy — no, I didn't know.'"
1501 founder Carl Crawford denied that he or the label were preventing Megan from releasing music, telling Billboard, "It's a whole lie. Nothing is true that she said. Me being greedy and taking money from her, that's crazy. I never tried to take nothing from her. The only thing we ever did was give, give, give."
A few days later, in a statement to Rolling Stone, Megan said, "I'm extremely pleased that 1501 and Carl Crawford were denied the request to dissolve the Court order and try to stop my music from being released. I will proceed with the release of SUGA on Friday, March 6. To be clear, I will stand up for myself and won't allow two men to bully me. This has nothing to do with anyone else including Jay-Z, stop deflecting and trying to make this a publicity stunt. I want my rights."
Megan and 1501 settled their legal dispute in 2023. In a statement, a rep for the label told Rolling Stone, " Megan Thee Stallion and 1501 Certified Entertainment are pleased to announce that they have mutually reached a confidential settlement to resolve their legal differences. As part of the arrangement, both parties have agreed to amicably part ways. Both Megan and 1501 are pleased to put this matter behind them and move forward with the next chapter of their respective businesses. All of us at 1501 wish Megan the very best in her life and career."
6. In 1993, Prince changed his stage name to the "Love Symbol," which he described as "an unpronounceable symbol whose meaning has not been identified," as a rebellion against his label. In a press release at the time, he said, "Warner Bros. took the [Prince] name, trademarked it, and used it as the main marketing tool to promote all of the music I wrote. The company owns the name Prince and all related music marketed under Prince. I became merely a pawn used to produce more money for Warner Bros."
The label sent floppy discs containing the Love Symbol to media outlets. However, Prince continued demonstrating his frustrations, eventually writing the word "slave" on his face.
In 2023, Prince's former publicist, Michael Pagnotta, told Variety, "There had been a number of huge deals in the early '90s — Michael Jackson, Madonna, R.E.M. — and of course Prince had to have the biggest one. So we put out a press release that we jiggered together that said it was $100 million deal — but nobody really bothered to look into the details very closely, because he had to sell 5 million copies of each record to get the next $10 million advance, so that number was really bullshit. It's the music business, right? And for a minute, it seemed like he was okay. But then he started to run into problems, because they didn't want to release as many records as fast as he wanted. How can you accommodate a major artist who wants to release a record every three or six months? You just can't do it."
Warner Bros. senior VP of creative services-turned-general manager Jeff Gold told Variety, "[Prince] was making noise about wanting his masters back, and [Warner chief Mo Ostin's] response was essentially, 'You should have thought that before you renegotiated your contract.' So Mo comes in one day and says, 'Prince has changed his name.'"
He continued, "Prince was constantly doing the unexpected — his reputation was 'Don't be surprised by anything.' But it becomes apparent pretty quickly that he's doing this so he can say, 'Well, you guys signed Prince, but I'm not Prince anymore: I'm the symbol,' which of course isn't going to fly, but we decided to have fun with it — which actually annoyed him even more. It was just another crazy thing from Prince, and we thought we could use it as a publicity stunt to get some attention, right?"
In 1996, Prince left Warner Bros, and a few years later, he reverted back to the name Prince.
7. In 2018, Little Mix member Jade Thirlwall alleged to ASOS Magazine, that, during a radio event with lots of VIPs in attendance, "Someone from our US record label alleged, 'Go and flirt with all those important men.' I was like, 'Why have I got to go in and flirt to get my song on the radio?'"
She also said, "We were told by one massive producer in the US that we shouldn't be writing, we should just be given songs."
In response, Simon Cowell, who founded Syco Records, Little Mix's original label, reportedly told The Sun, "If we'd have known about that at the time, whoever said that, he or she would have been fired."
8. In 2019, Scooter Braun purchased Taylor Swift's masters from Big Machine Records founder Scott Borchetta for $300 million. Taylor called out the deal in a Tumblr post, writing, "For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. Instead I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and 'earn' one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in. I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future."
She continued, "I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past. Music I wrote on my bedroom floor and videos I dreamed up and paid for from the money I earned playing in bars, then clubs, then arenas, then stadiums.
Some fun facts about today's news: I learned about Scooter Braun's purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world. All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I've received at his hands for years.
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...Or when his client, Kanye West, organized 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.
This is my worst case scenario. This is what happens when you sign a deal at fifteen to someone for whom the term 'loyalty' is clearly just a contractual concept. And when that man says 'Music has value', he means its value is beholden to men who had no part in creating it.
When I left my masters in Scott's hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words 'Scooter Braun' escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to. He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn't want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever.
Thankfully, I am now signed to a label that believes I should own anything I create. Thankfully, I left my past in Scott's hands and not my future. And hopefully, young artists or kids with musical dreams will read this and learn about how to better protect themselves in a negotiation. You deserve to own the art you make.
I will always be proud of my past work. But for a healthier option, Lover will be out August 23.
💔
In response, Scott Borchetta made a post titled " So, It's Time For Some Truth" on the Big Machine website. He wrote that Taylor's father, Scott Swift, was a shareholder in the label and was therefore "made aware of the pending deal with Ithaca Holdings and had 3 days to go over all of the details of the proposed transaction." He claimed the "transaction passed with a majority vote and 3 of the 5 shareholders voting 'yes' with 92% of the shareholder's vote."
He also alleged, "Out of courtesy, I personally texted Taylor at 9:06pm, Saturday, June 29 th to inform her prior to the story breaking on the morning of Sunday, June 30 th so she could hear it directly from me.
I guess it might somehow be possible that her dad Scott, 13 Management lawyer Jay Schaudies (who represented Scott Swift on the shareholder calls) or 13 Management executive and Big Machine LLC shareholder Frank Bell (who was on the shareholder calls) didn't say anything to Taylor over the prior 5 days. I guess it's possible that she might not have seen my text. But, I truly doubt that she 'woke up to the news when everyone else did'.
...Taylor had every chance in the world to own not just her master recordings, but every video, photograph, everything associated to her career. She chose to leave.
As to her comments about 'being in tears or close to it' anytime my new partner Scooter Braun's name was brought up, I certainly never experienced that. Was I aware of some prior issues between Taylor and Justin Bieber? Yes. But there were also times where Taylor knew that I was close to Scooter and that Scooter was a very good source of information for upcoming album releases, tours, etc, and I'd reach out to him for information on our behalf. Scooter was never anything but positive about Taylor."
You can read Scott's full post here.
A few months later, Scooter told Tony Gonzalez's Wide Open podcast, "I went through some drama recently. ... And people question your integrity. They talk shit. You've got to know your intention. I think you should have no regrets in life unless you do something with malicious intent. I go through life with no malicious intent. Hurt people hurt people — they're going to project it onto you."
In November 2020, Taylor became eligible to rerecord her first five albums. Of course, she famously decided to rerecord and release her "Taylor's Versions," leading to her highly successful The Eras Tour.
9. Per Pitchfork, in a since-deleted tweet from 2020, SZA reportedly told fans who were waiting for her to release new music, "At this point y'all gotta ask punch [Top Dawg Entertainment president Terrence 'Punch' Henderson]." She also alleged that their working relationship had "BEEN hostile."
The next day, Punch tweeted, "I am a person and you guys are hurting my feelings."
Then, in response to a quote tweet accusing him of not letting SZA release her music because he "has superiority complex that makes it impossible for [him] to have healthy relationships with women," he said, "Wow. That was a great read except you're 100% wrong."
In late 2024, Punch " stepped away abruptly" from managing SZA. Per Rolling Stone, in the Instagram comments of a post about their split, she said, "To be clear I love punch deeply ! NO ONE should be attacking him or being cruel on my behalf . Sometimes ppl grow apart and that's okay."
10. In 2021, Raye tweeted, "I have been on a 4 ALBUM RECORD DEAL since 2014 !!! And haven't been allowed to put out one album. ALL I CARE ABOUT is the music. Im sick of being slept on and I'm sick of being in pain about it this is not business to me this so personal." She added, "Imagine this pain I have been signed to a major label since 2014...and I have had albums on albums of music sat in folders collecting dust, songs I am now giving away to A list artists because I am still awaiting confirmation that I am good enough to release an album."
In another tweet, she said, "I've done everything they asked me, I switched genres, I worked 7 days a week, ask anyone in the music game, they know. I'm done being a polite pop star. I want to make my album now, please that is all I want."
In response, a rep for Polydor, her label at the time, told NME, "We were saddened to read RAYE's tweets last night and have reached out to her management team to discuss and offer our full support."
A few weeks later, in a since-deleted social media statement, Raye reportedly said, "Today I am speaking to you as an independent artist. Polydor and I have spoken and have agreed to part ways.
I want to say a big thank you to the Polydor team, and all the individuals who have fought for me, believed in me and worked so hard for me across the years.
Polydor are an incredible infrastructure powerhouse team, unfortunately we have different goals artistically and I am very grateful to them for giving me a graceful, smooth exit to start my next chapter as an artist."
11. In a since-deleted TikTok from 2022, Halsey alleged, "Basically, I have a song I love that I wanna release ASAP, but my record label won't let me...My record company is saying that I can't release it unless they can fake a viral moment on TikTok."
Halsey / Via tiktok.com
They continued, "Everything is marketing,...and they are doing this to basically every artist these days. I just wanna release music, man. And I deserve better tbh. I'm tired."
A rep for her label at the time, Astralwerks-Capitol, told Variety, "Our belief in Halsey as a singular and important artist is total and unwavering. We can't wait for the world to hear their brilliant new music."
12. Similarly, in a 2022 TikTok video, Gavin DeGraw sang this to the tune of his 2004 hit "I Don't Want to Be": "I don't want to be on TikTok, but my label told me that I have to."
Gavin DeGraw / Via tiktok.com
You can watch the video here.
Gavin's label hasn't publicly responded to his TikTok.
However, a year later, he made a new TikTok video set to his parody song. He said, "Hey TikTok, I'm sorry I doubted you. Thanks for a great 2022."
13. Also in 2022, in a since-deleted TikTok, FKA Twigs reportedly alleged, "It's true all record labels ask for are TikToks, and I got told off today for not making enough effort."
FKA Twigs / Via tiktok.com
Her label has not publicly commented on her claims.
14. In 2023, Fifth Harmony member Ally Brooke told the Zach Sang Show, "We literally have billions of streams, but unfortunately, we don't get anything off of streams. But, thank God for [the non-profit collective rights management organization] SoundExchange. SoundExchange is amazing, and that, we get about, like, $5,000 a month. But that [has] gone away now, and we're not sure why."
Zach Sang Show / Via youtube.com
She also said it was "criminal" that someone was making money from the former band's streams, "but not us."
She said, "We don't have that protection that we should have, you know what I mean? Like, we should do our own type of strike."
However, elsewhere in the interview, she revealed that the Fifth Harmony members had "just got [their] trademark back thanks to Simon [Cowell]," which would, in part, give them access to the money their songs continue to make.
Fifth Harmony's label hasn't publicly responded to Ally's claims.
Here's the full clip:
View this video on YouTube
15. Also in 2023, Ally's former Fifth Harmony bandmate Lauren Jauregui alleged to the Zach Sang Show that she didn't receive substantial royalties from the band's music. She said, "It's not gonna pay my rent."
Zach Sang Show / Via youtube.com
She said, "The songwriters [and] the producers, they all make money off of it too, which, they gotta eat too...You know, it is what it is. I'm not attached to making a fortune off of what we created, you know, 'cause that's not what it was for me. It wasn't what it was while I was in it, and it's not what it is for me now."
The band's label has not publicly responded to Lauren's claims.
Here's the full clip:
View this video on YouTube
16. And finally, in 2023, Kesha settled her lawsuit with Dr. Luke and fulfilled her contractual obligations to her previous label. Then, in 2024, she launched her own label, Kesha Records. She told Elle, "The music industry should be fucking terrified of me. Because I'm about to make some major moves and shift this shit. I really want to dismantle it piece by piece and shine light into every corner. I hope my legacy is making sure it never happens to anybody ever again."
Kiss 108 Radio / Via youtube.com
She also said she messages other artists to offer her support.
She said, "I do have a sense of feeling protective of young women in music. I really hope my joy can stand for others to know that it's available to them and to not give up. I enjoy feeling my power, which hasn't been available to me for a really long time, and I'd love to give that gift to others if I can."