Rita Ora is being countersued by Roc Nation, after filing a lawsuit last December in which she complains about being “orphaned” by the Jay-Z founded record label.
Roc Nation are now suing the singer, claiming that they need to be reimbursed by her for the $2.3 million that they funnelled into marketing her yet-to-be-released sophomore album. Obviously the $2.3 million has been well spent, since the music world is abuzz about it…
In her filed complaint, the singer invokes California’s famous “Seven Year Rule,” which states that a person cannot be subjected to a contract to perform personal services beyond seven years from the beginning of the deal. The complaint also that states:
“When Rita signed, Roc Nation and its senior executives were very involved with her as an artist. As Roc Nation’s interests diversified, there were fewer resources available and the company suffered a revolving door of executives. Rita’s remaining supporters at the label left or moved on to other activities, to the point where she no longer had a relationship with anyone at the company.”
This is most likely regarding Ron Nation’s move towards the streaming service Tidal, as well as the label’s growing sports clientele.
However, Roc Nation are stating that regardless of those damning claims, Rita Ora was signed to a five album deal, and has so far only delivered one album. Which seems like a mildly petty rebuttal considering that the singer claims that she has been completely ignored by the label and has no contacts left in Roc Nation.
The once prominent Jay-Z protégé released very successful singles last year, with Poison and Body on Me proving to both be very popular. Hopefully, whatever the outcome of these legal battles we get to hear more from the very talented performer.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1fGOG3XXIQ]
It seems Jay Z has an intense legal battle coming his way, courtesy of Rita Ora. The singer is suing Jay Z’s record label Roc Nation, on the grounds that her vontract is in violation of California law. She will be using the “seven-year rule” as her defense during the course of the lawsuit.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, a complaint was filed last Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court saying:
“When Rita signed, Roc Nation and its senior executives were very involved with her as an artist. As Roc Nation’s interests diversified, there were fewer resources available and the company suffered a revolving door of executives. Rita’s remaining supporters at the label left or moved on to other activities, to the point where she no longer had a relationship with anyone at the company.”
It alludes to the idea that she had been abandoned by Roc Nation, “self-funding her promotional television appearances, recording costs and video projects.”
Back in 2008, Ora signed on to Roc Nation as an 18-year-old. However, her music has apparently been distributed by Sony (the company she was signed to prior to Roc Nation), even though Roc Nation changed to a new distribution partner, Universal, in 2013.
“Between Sony’s limited economic return from its orphaned relationship with Roc Nation and Sony’s indirect relationship with Rita, Rita is caught in a political quagmire of dysfunction,” the complaint states.
Tidal is referenced as one of Jay Z’s other ventures that support the idea that the label is now “diminished”, tending to the needs of “only a handful of admittedly worthy heritage superstar artists.”
The “Seven Year Rule”, or as Rolling Stone defines it, the law that a personal service contract cannot be enforced after seven years from when it is signed. Musicians and actresses, such as Olivia Newton John and Olivia De Havilland have used the law to free themselves from particular companies.