One image that lives rent free in my head is the famous picture of Megan Thee Stallion wearing a real pumpkin jack-o-lantern on her head, pretending to watch TV in bed. It’s so funny. She reprised the meme again this year on her Instagram, posing poolside with a latte and a giant pumpkin. Megan has had a difficult time over the past three years. Beyond what she endured with Tory Lanez, she is also in a legal battle with her record label–she wants out of her recording contract and they’re not letting her out. She also claims that they owe her a lot in royalties, which I believe. So she’s just bypassing them altogether and self-funding her next album. Studio time is expensive, so this is no mean feat. She talked about it on an Instagram live and is calling the venture: “Hot Girl Productions”. Now I kind of want her to start her own record label called Hot Girl Productions.
Megan is funding the album completely on her own: During an Instagram Live on Thursday (Oct. 12), the rapper revealed that she’s not signed to a label and will be funding her own music projects moving forward, as seen in screen recordings shared by fans on social media. “This part of my album is very much so funded by Megan Thee Stallion because we’re trying to get off… Y’all know what’s the tea. But I have no label right now,” she explained. “We’re doing everything funded straight out of Megan Thee Stallion’s pockets. So, the budget is coming from me. Motherf—ing Hot Girl Productions! The next s— y’all about to see is all straight from Megan Thee Stallion’s brain and Megan Thee Stallion’s wallet. We are in my pockets, hotties, so let’s do our big one.”
Her old record label is playing some underhanded games: The star rapper has been fighting with 1501 for more than two years, claiming the company duped a young artist into signing an “unconscionable” record deal in 2018 that was below industry standards. She filed the current case in February 2022, claiming 1501 had wrongly classified her Something For Thee Hotties less than an “album” — a significant distinction, as she owes a certain number of albums under her deal. Megan Thee Stallion filed a new complaint in August 2022 seeking more than $1 million in damages over claims that 1501 had “systematically failed” to pay enough royalties. 1501 then fired back with new accusations of its own, claiming it’s actually Megan Thee Stallion who owes “millions of dollars.”
While I don’t love the circumstances that led to it, I love that Megan is carrying on and refusing to let the jokers at her record label stand in the way. She gets to make her album exactly how she wants, without interference from some bozo executives. Does it mean she’d own her masters, too? I hope so. Artists like Lana Del Rey and Beyonce own their masters (Beyonce owns the masters from her last four albums) and grants exclusive license to record labels. I think that’s the move, so that the artist ultimately owns their work. I don’t know how common of an arrangement that is, but hopefully it’s something Megan can do, so she can protect her work in the future even if she grants license to a different record label. I also feel bad that Megan is getting dragged down by this lawsuit. Unfair record deals are a tale as old as time (see also: Frank Sinatra and Tommy Dorsey!). But she’s a superstar and she deserves a label that will pay her accordingly. If she wanted to be signed to a major label, she would have options.
Photos credit: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon, Getty and via Instagram
I remember her old label being against her collab with BTS too. She persisted and it was great.
Anyway, since then, I have always supported her and known her label was weird.
I remember that. Why would a label turn down a collab with an international band with a millions strong fan base for their artist? Do they not want to make money, network with overseas labels, and get great pr? So stupid.
HYBE forced their hand, that’s why. BTS went to their company and said get it done. And that is a group that is even under tighter control than Megan’s contract. I was shocked when I saw information from their companies attorneys in the lawsuit. That is the power when you are part of the GNP of a country.
The music business has always been super sleazy. But with artists making so little money from their records, it may start making sense for the bigger artists to just self fund like this.
Good for Megan! The music industry has always been structured in a way that takes advantage of artists and it bothers me to no end. I’ve always noticed a pattern of fat cat executives (usually white men) making tons of money off of artists (usually women and/or POC). Like when I stream a song or a song is licensed for a movie… how much of that $$ is going to the performer with all the actual talent, and how much is going to the leeches behind the scenes? No matter how much cash Megan has, it’s sad that she has to do this in order to get out of a situation that was toxic. She deserves nothing but sunshine and rainbows after all she has been through.
💕
Way back in the day Douglas Fairbanks, mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and director DW Griffin founded their own studio, United Artists. It would be awesome to see singers do something similar. Especially female singers. Could you imagine a record label founded by artists like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Shakira, Adele, MTS, Rihanna and Gaga? You know that especially the first two have tons of money. They could go on tour every time they needed capital. And throw dolly in there too! Because she’s awesome and it’s the country music demo.
love that meg continues to take back control of her life, narrative, and work!
I adore Meghan and am amazed her great beauty, talent and courage. I’m sorry she was dragged down by bad things and bad people in the past. I wish her luck. I know she has the fortitude. I’d like to see other major artists supporting her and collaborating with her, too. Love you, Meghan!