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; in 2026 a jury 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 →