The music industry is no easy place to navigate, especially when it comes to recording labels. While there have been a number of scandals throughout the years, including Kesha's long battle against former producer Dr. Luke and Taylor Swift's most recent debacle with Scooter Braun.

As if things weren't cutthroat enough, becoming big in the music scene all depends on whether or not an artist's label serves them right, or, as we've seen many times, completely sabotages them.

From labels being known to drop their artists all the way to hoarding the master rights of a singer's entire discography, here are 10 musicians who were held back due to their torpid music deals.

10 Prince

Prince broke out in the industry back when he was only 18 years old! The icon would go on to become very outspoken regarding artists' autonomy, and he voiced his opinion quite often. The "Purple Rain" singer had a number of issues with Warner Bros and rebelled against the label during performances when they refused to release albums according to Prince's schedule or grant him ownership to his own masters.

This led the singer to write "SLAVE" onto his face during performances, however, in 1999, after Prince threatened to re-record all of his music, Warner Bros finally sold his masters to Prince, allowing him to be in full control of his art.

9 JoJo

In 2014, JoJo was finally released from her label that she had first signed with back when she was only 12 years old! During the singer's debut and the release of her hit songs, "Too Little Too Late", and "Leave (Get Out)" JoJo was all anyone could talk about.

Related: JoJo Shares Powerful Message With Hope For 2021

Despite her success, JoJo was being ignored by her label, Blackground, with who she had signed a seven-album deal back in 2004. After recording her third album a multitude of times and re-shooting covers, music videos, and album artwork, the label kept JoJo on read and nothing was moving forward.

The singer tried to leave her label to pursue music elsewhere but was bound by a contract. After finally suing Blackground in 2009, JoJo and the record label would go head to head for years before JoJo would be granted freedom from the label and access to her old masters.

8 Rachel Platten

Rachel Platten has always been in the "up and coming" category when it comes to musicians, but she's remained there for almost a decade. In 2011, Rachel released her debut album, Be Here with an indie label, Rock Ridge. Despite the promises, her debut fell flat and had very little success. It was at this moment that her manager walked away and the label fell through, completely ruining her launch into stardom.

After trying to make a comeback for years, Rachel was told she was too old to be a breakout pop star, however, she eventually found success in 2015 with her hit song, "Fight Song". While she may have had to dig herself out of the wreckage caused by her former label, PLatten has since gone gold after signing with Columbia Records, proving her talent to be one worth watching.

7 The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys have cemented their status in the music industry as one of the best, however, things weren't always smooth sailing for them. In 1969, the group sued their label, Capitol Records for $2 million after requesting termination of their contract two years earlier. After not receiving a penny from the label in unpaid royalties, the group won't back nearly $1.5 million.

Despite the legal battle, The Beach Boys' discography remained under Capitol's control, and was later sold to Irving Alamo Music for $700,000 without the group's consent! Today, that very catalog would be worth a whopping $30 million, says Pop Dust.

6 Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey is a prime example of a singer who was easily sabotaged by her record label! Despite being the Queen of Christmas and the songbird supreme, Mariah has also found herself in hot waters. After her divorce from Sony CEO, Tommy Mottola, Mariah had moved on to bigger and better things, including her film and soundtrack, Glitter.

Related: 10 Singers Who Were Inspired By Mariah Carey

While Mariah was no longer attached to Sony, the film was, leaving Tommy Mottola to pull promotional advertisement from stores, and even screwed Mariah out of the lead song, "Loverboy".

After Carey secured the rights to sample "Firecracker" by Yellow Magic Orchestra for "Loverboy", Motolla took the demo and gave it over to Jennifer Lopez for her track, "I'm Real" leaving Mimi unable to move forward with her original masterpiece and scramble to write, producer, and record a new song, which she did, and still landed at the top two spots on the Billboard Hot 100.

5 Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift experienced the very same thing music legend, Prince endured. The singer, who was tied to Scooter Braun's label at the time, found herself in a major public feud with the music manager. Swift called out Scooter for exerting "tyrannical control" over her music, which Braun was practically holding hostage.

After a public uproar, Swift was finally granted the rights to all of her first six albums, however, she didn't get them for cheap. Despite it being her voice and lyrics, Swift had to dish over a whopping $300 million just to secure the rights to her own music.

4 TLC

TLC is without a doubt the best-selling girl group of all time! The duo first came about back in 1990 and enjoyed major success throughout the decade. During the prime of their careers, TLC was raking in millions, however, due to their awful record deal, which was helmed by their former manager, Perri Reid, the group only receive 7% of their record sales, which comes up to about $35,000 per year for each member.

The group revealed these details during a VH1 special, which led Reid to sue the group for defamation to the tune of $40 million back in 2018. Perri made it clear that when it comes to girl groups, TLC received "the type of deal that new artists get," Yikes!

3 Kesha

Kesha has had one of the biggest cases when it comes to record label corruption! The star entered into a legal battle against former music producer, Dr. Luke after it was revealed that Dr. Luke had allegedly assaulted Kesha.

Related: Is Diddy’s Bad Boy Records Label Cursed?

Due to the singer's contract, she was unable to exit her deal, meaning she was practically forced to work with her abuser, whether she liked it or not. This sparked major controversy from the public, who demanded Kesha be set free by her label along with her work. Dr.Luke countersued Kesha for defamation and breach of contract and was granted a win, causing even more uproar.

2 Fifth Harmony

Fifth Harmony gained prominence back in 2012 when they were formed on the hit talent competition, The X Factor. After becoming the biggest name in music, with hits such as "Work From Home", "Worth It", and "That's My Girl" to name a few, the group disbanded in 2018 after former member, Camila Cabello left.

During their time together, the ladies of Fifth Harmony, which was made up of Camila, Normani, Aly Brooke, Dinah Jane, and Lauren Jauregui, were treated quite poorly by their label and management. Not only were they working tirelessly to release an album every single year, but the group was also earning nothing!

In a leaked audio recording, Lauren Jauregui can be heard saying that the girls are "literal slaves" when referring to the treatment they received from Epic Records. "Labor every day! And we see nothing" she said.

1 Normani

After finally being free from Fifth Harmony, Normani found herself at the top of her career following her signing to RCA Records and the release of her hit single, "Motivation". This sparked talk that Normani could go on to become the next Beyonce, however, things sort of fizzled for her there. Despite never releasing a solo album, Normani had the world in her palm, as she was all anyone could talk about in 2019.

While she easily had enough star power to blow up on the scene, her label and management didn't move quickly enough, casting her to the side and not recording any new music to follow the hype from her first single. To this day, Normani has yet to release any new music nor announce an EP or debut album, leaving many to wonder if she's with the right people.

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