Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

Dr Luke denies reports Sony is considering axing his deal

By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 10 March 2016

A legal representative for Dr Luke has denied a report that Sony Music will part company with the producer as a result of the bad PR being generated by his ongoing legal battle with Kesha.

As much previously reported, Kesha Sebert accuses Lukasz Gottwald of plying her with drugs and alcohol and raping her as a teenager. Gottwald claims that the allegations and resulting lawsuit are an attempt by Sebert to get out of her contract with his Kemosabe label, which is a Sony Music imprint.

As the legal battle slowly goes through the motions, Sebert’s attorney sought a temporary injunction that would have allowed the singer to release a record with another label, arguing that the dispute with Gottwald had put his client’s entire career on hold. But the judge overseeing the case denied that request, saying that it would set a dangerous precedent if the court interfered with Sebert’s contractual relationship with the producer’s companies.

The judge also noted that Sony had offered to allow Sebert to work with a different producer and a different label within the major record company. The singer had indicated that she would be OK with such an arrangement, but her lawyer Mark Geragos said that they were yet to be convinced that such a set-up would not still be under the influence of Gottwald, and that they suspected that the major would not properly promote any resulting record, because its loyalties really lie with the producer.

Although Sebert was unsuccessful in court, public and celebrity support for the singer has grown significantly since the hearing, with Sony under increased pressure to release her from contractual obligations that benefit her alleged abuser.

But Sony argues that Sebert’s deal is directly with Gottwald’s companies, which in turn have a deal with the major, meaning it is not a party to the actual Sebert/Gottwald contract, and therefore not in a position to release the singer from her obligations. All it can do, if it so wishes, is put pressure on its long-term business partner Gottwald to cut the singer free.

Or it could seek to end its alliance with the producer altogether, which – while not necessarily cutting Sebert free from her contractual obligations – would cut the major free from the PR nightmare the case has caused. And yesterday The Wrap cited sources saying that that’s exactly what Sony intends to do.

The quoted sourced conceded that Sebert’s legal case for getting out of her contract was weak, but added that public support for the singer from high profile artists like Taylor Swift, Kelly Clarkson and Adele was a problem for Sony. “Kesha has no case in regards to her contract” the source said, “but they can’t afford the Adeles of the world out in the streets calling the label unsupportive. The fact that this hasn’t already been taken care of with Luke is confusing, especially for people in the building”.

Of course, ending its alliance with Gottwald would be costly for Sony, given he reportedly has at least a year left to run on his current contract with the major. Given there has been no criminal proceedings in relation to Sebert’s allegations against the producer, Sony couldn’t just drop him, meaning it would have to negotiate – ie buy – it’s way out of its business partnership. And, of course, it would also lose access to Gottwald’s pop-making talents.

Either way, the producer’s reps are denying that Sony has any plans at all to end its business alliance with their client. Responding to the story in The Wrap, attorney Christine Lepera told Billboard: “This is not true. Luke has an excellent relationship with Sony. His representatives are in regular contact with executives at the highest levels at Sony and this has never come up”.