While Megan Thee Stallion’s (real name Megan Pete) trial with Tory Lanez is her most pressing matter currently at hand, she’s still involved in another significant legal squabble: Her dispute with 1501 Certified Entertainment, her former label.
via: Rolling Stone
A TEXAS JUDGE sided with Megan Thee Stallion on Wednesday when he denied her estranged Houston label’s request that her 2021 album Something for Thee Hotties be declared something less than an album under her contract.
The Harris County judge rejected 1501 Certified Entertainment’s motion for the pre-trial ruling, known as a partial summary judgment, in a one-page decision that means Megan’s $1 million lawsuit against the label can proceed to trial intact.
The label had filed its request Sept. 14, arguing that the court should bypass a trial and simply rule outright that Something for Thee Hotties was not an “album” under Megan’s contract because it included previously available recordings and purportedly “failed to follow the proper approval procedures.”
Megan, born Megan Pete, replied to the motion Dec. 19, arguing that she fully complied with the terms of her deal regarding Something for Thee Hotties and deserved a chance to argue her case at trial.
“Pete should be allowed her day in court to present evidence and testimony to the jury demonstrating that she has done all that was required of her in the delivery and release of her albums,” her successful response filing read.
In her paperwork, Pete argues that the freestyles and skits included on her album do not count as previously published material because even though some may have appeared on YouTube, they were never available in a format that was commercially distributed to the public for sale.
“If there is any ambiguity around the term ‘previously-unreleased,’ it should be reserved as a question of fact for the jury,” Megan’s Dec. 19 opposition paperwork reads.
She further argues that after a company called 300 Entertainment bought the exclusive right to manufacture, distribute, sell, transmit and otherwise exploit her albums in 2018, she began working exclusively with 300 Entertainment to prepare and release her albums.
She says 300 Entertainment “kept 1501 apprised of developments” for months leading up to the album’s release and that the company provided 1501 with a link to Something for Thee Hotties at least three days prior to its release. She claims 1501 “asserted no objection” until two months after the album’s release.
