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Dr Luke’s Kemosabe Records announces redundancies
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 8 April 2016
Dr Luke’s Kemosabe Records has confirmed that it is making some of its staff redundant, passing over some day-to-day operations to parent company Sony Music.
“Kemosabe Records and Sony elected to downsize certain departments”, a Kemosabe spokesperson told Pitchfork. “Some of those functions will be handled by Sony as part of their joint venture relationship. Kemosabe continues to be fully operational and is excited about its current releases and the upcoming year”.
The label – launched as a joint venture between Dr Luke and Sony Music in 2011 – has, of course, been in the news of late due to the producer’s ongoing legal battle with one of its artists, Kesha.
In complicated, multi-state litigation, she accuses him of plying her with drugs and alcohol and raping her as a teenager. He denies all of those allegations, and has sued both the singer and her mother for defamation, saying that the accusations were invented in a bid to force his hand in a contractual dispute.
Kesha has suffered a number of setbacks in that legal battle lately. First when a request for an injunction to allow her to record for other labels was denied. Then this week a New York judge dismissed most elements of the singer’s litigation as filed in that state, with jurisdiction, statutes of limitation and legal definitions at the heart of the ruling.
Last month it was rumoured that Sony Music was planning to cut ties with Kemosabe in order to distance itself from the bad PR around the court case. That was quickly denied, though the rumour may have been sparked by discussions to downsize the company.
In other Dr Luke-related news, there has been criticism of Jennifer Lopez after it emerged that her new female-empowerment-themed single, ‘Ain’t Your Mama’ – which premiered on the final episode of ‘American Idol’ this week – was produced by him.
At a time when the producer’s relationships with his female collaborators are under such scrutiny, and numerous popstars (including some who have worked with him) have come out in support of Kesha, some have seen this as Lopez siding with Dr Luke. This may not be the case, of course, but nonetheless the record release is possibly mistimed given the legal proceedings are such a big news story at the moment.
