Carl Crawford’s label 1501 Certified Entertainment fired back at Megan Thee Stallion saying she owes the label millions and not the other way around.
Megan Thee Stallion’s Label has filed a response to her amended claim, which seeks $1 million in damages from the Houston-based label. Carl Crawford-led 1501 Certified Entertainment has listed several new allegations against the rapper, including that she owes them millions and that she is still contractually bound as she has not released the required number of “albums” under the contract.
The label says Megan owes “Many millions” to it and that her latest filing is “baseless.” Last week, Megan Thee Stallion‘s attorney moved to the court to file the amended claim for damages as it seeks to have the court bring the matter to an end to release Megan from her contract with 1501 Ent.
“Over the past two (2) years, Pete and 1501 shared a long and tortured history of disputes with each other concerning Pete’s recording agreement, including the unconscionability of the agreement in its original form, as well as disputes concerning the release of Pete’s music,” Megan’s latest file read.
“The two have been able to resolve some of the disputes through the issuance of multiple temporary restraining orders against Defendants from this Court…but a new dispute has arisen requiring further assistance from the Court,” her complaint said.
The “Wap” rapper said that the label has failed to acknowledge that Megan’s contract has ended and that they are still disputing that she owes them one more album.
“1501’s new position, taken months after the album’s release, is clearly a ruse in an effort to try to take further advantage of Pete, at great expense and in bad faith,” the complaint continued.
On Friday, 1501’s response claimed credit for discovering and developing Megan’s talent and being responsible for the success she is enjoying.
“1501 is the record company that discovered MTS and signed her in 2018, back before she was the success she is now, and when no other record labels were interested in signing her,” the company said. “As soon as she became a star, MTS decided that she no longer needed 1501 or Carl Crawford, so she has pursued baseless legal actions in an attempt to get out of her valid contractual obligations.”
The label is also maintaining that Megan’s 2021 project ‘Something for Thee Hotties’ is not an “album.” Megan Thee Stallion must produce three albums under her 1501 record deal. An album in the contract is defined as a 45-minute project, but despite the project being 45 minutes, the label is disputing that monologues and talk time should be discounted, which would leave the remainder at 29 minutes of original material.
“MTS has sued for a declaratory judgment that “Something for Thee Hotties,” which was released in October 2021, is also an album. It is not, and MTS must still deliver one more album under her contracts. First, “Something for Thee Hotties” plainly does not constitute an “album” under the parties’ agreements. “Something for Thee Hotties” is made up of 21 recordings and includes spoken interlude recordings on which MTS does not appear as well as several previously-released recordings. It was not original material and included freestyles available on YouTube and archival material from as far back as 2019. The result is that the total duration of new recordings featuring MTS is only 29 minutes long.”
The label appears to supplement its argument by using descriptions of press reports which refer to
‘Traumazine’ as her “sophomore” album.
The company also denied wrongdoing or that it has held back monies rightfully belonging to Megan.
“300 Entertainment handles the production and marketing expenses. 300 Entertainment then collects the money from MTS’s record sales and deducts those expenses before paying the balance to 1501. 1501 then retains the amount it is entitled to under the contracts and pays any balance to MTS after exercising its contractual right to offset any amounts MTS owes it from amounts MTS is due. The entire process as between MTS and 1501 is transparent,” the document read.
The label further said that 300 Entertainment is being audited to see that the monies deducted for expenses are accurate. It did add that if it turns out that 300 improperly deducted money, then Megan will get what she is due after 1501 collects its share.
“To the extent the audit reveals that 300 Entertainment improperly deducted certain expenses and thus owes additional royalties, these additional royalties would be shared by 1501 and MTS per the terms of the Settlement Agreement—in other words, any amounts recovered under the audit of 300 Entertainment would benefit not only MTS but also 1501,” it added.
A date a decision has not been given, and Megan and her attorneys have responded to the latest filing from 1501 Certified Ent.
