Brad Paisley Upsets Own Record Company By Leaking New Music


Brad Paisley gave fans a bit of a saga on Twitter yesterday, as the singer apparently defied the will of his record company by posting clips from his new album well in advance of its August 26 release date. Rolling Stone reported that Paisley had a filed $10 million lawsuit earlier this year against his label for breach of contract and unpaid royalties. This was enough for Rolling Stone to conclude the series of tweets was a sincere act of rebellion and not a mere publicity stunt.

Paisley posted a YouTube sampling of music from Moonshine in the Trunk, which he told Rolling Stone would address topics that are out of the norm for country radio. Apparently, Sony was quick to notice the offending leak, leading Paisley to respond in kind:

The singer also went on to post email correspondence between himself and the company, including an apparent deference to its request that Paisley stop posting the music:

A mere two minutes later, Paisley recruited some celebrity help to get his music out, without explicitly breaking his word to the folks at the label:

Paisley’s fellow Rising Star judge then went on to post the clip, which Paisley retweeted. Paisley teased the company again with a legalistic explanation of his action:

Billboard reported in May that the lawsuit is in fact long-running, going back to 2010. In April, Paisley got a new lawyer and amended his complaint. The new lawyer’s specialty is digital royalties, ironic considering Paisley’s use of social media to leak his own material. The lawsuit alleged that the loss of royalties was due to Sony’s misreporting and errors.

Rolling Stone said “troublemaker” is not a usual label for Paisley. There is some precedent for him getting into the thick of an argument, however. Just last month The Inquisitr reported that Paisley took a “selfie” in front of some Westboro Baptist Church protestors at his concert who were apparently upset about his songs’ references to alcohol.

As of Monday morning, he was still recruiting friends to spin heads at Sony:

[Image: Brad Paisley/Google]

Share this article: Brad Paisley Upsets Own Record Company By Leaking New Music
More from Inquisitr