It appears Glassnote Entertainment Group has taken legal action against Childish Gambino.
According to TMZ, the record label has sued its former signee over unpaid royalties generated through streaming services. The imprint claims Gambino has earned about $700,000 in music streams, but has not paid the company a single cent. Furthermore, Glassnote says it has already paid the rapper close to $8 million and expects to pay him another $2 million in royalties over the next three months. The label also claims Gambino demanded $1.5 million to settle any streaming royalty disputes.
Gambino released a number of mixtapes as well as his first three albums—Camp, Because the Internet, and Awaken, My Love!—while signed to Glassnote. About four years ago, the multi-hyphenate blasted the label for the way it handled the release of his 2013 single “Sweatpants” as well as his Deep Web Tour blog.
“So this sweatpants video and blog was important to us and it wasnt handled correctly,” he tweeted. “[…] We were told a lot of things were gonna happen and they were all lies. So im done. Someone buy me out of this contract […] a lot of people came around after our first week sales. all those people are welcome now. def jam, atlantic, whatever.”
In January of this year, Gambino announced he and his Wolf + Rothstein creative agency had inked a deal with RCA records.
“Donald is undoubtedly one of the most talented, multi-faceted, young entertainers of this era,” RCA Chairman/CEO Peter Edge told Variety. “We are excited to join forces with him and Wolf + Rothstein to usher in the next phase of Childish Gambino’s musical career.”
“It was a necessary change of pace,” Gambino added.
