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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.'”
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?'”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
