Companies on record
Profiles of the major record labels, plus the streaming and live-music gatekeepers that shape the same business. Each collects the documented cases tied to that company. Inclusion reflects the public record, not a verdict on everything the company has ever done.
Big Machine Records
The Nashville independent that signed a 15-year-old Taylor Swift and owned the masters to her first six albums, masters that were sold twice without her, igniting the highest-profile ownership fight in pop history.
1 case on file →
Blackground Records
The label that signed a 12-year-old JoJo to a seven-album deal, then, by her account and lawsuit, failed to release her music for years while she remained contractually trapped and unable to record elsewhere.
1 case on file →
EMI / Virgin Records
The storied British major, home to Virgin Records, that sued 30 Seconds to Mars for $30 million when the band tried to invoke California's seven-year rule to escape a deal under which, the band said, it had sold millions of records yet remained millions in debt. EMI's recorded-music business was absorbed by Universal in 2012.
1 case on file →
LaFace Records
The Atlanta powerhouse behind TLC, the best-selling American girl group of all time, who filed for bankruptcy in 1995 while their album was a diamond-selling hit, exposing how little of the money reached the artists.
1 case on file →
Live Nation Entertainment (Ticketmaster)
Not a record label, but the company that sits between fans, artists, and venues, owning Ticketmaster, the dominant promoter, and a vast venue network. In 2024 the U.S. DOJ and 29 states sued to break it up; the DOJ later settled, but in 2026 a jury on the states' claims found it an illegal monopoly.
2 cases on file →
Sony Music Entertainment
One of the three majors, and the company (as Sony BMG) that paid $10 million to settle New York's payola investigation in 2005. Its imprints have also been at the center of high-profile contract fights.
3 cases on file →
Spotify
Not a record label, but the dominant streaming platform, and the gatekeeper that sets the terms most artists actually live under. Included here for two contested practices: 'Discovery Mode,' which critics call modern payola, and its 2024 move to stop paying royalties on tracks under 1,000 annual streams.
2 cases on file →
Universal Music Group
The world's largest music company by market share, home to Republic, Interscope, Def Jam, and Capitol. Its scale means its decisions, like pulling its catalog from TikTok in 2024, move the entire market.
1 case on file →
Warner Music Group
The smallest of the three majors, and the company whose 1990s standoff with Prince over ownership of his master recordings became the defining symbol of the artist-vs-label fight for control.
1 case on file →