RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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When Ariana Grande took legal action this week over leaks of her unreleased music, she was hardly the first star to do so. BTS , Madonna , Megan Thee Stallion and Ye (the artist formerly known as Kanye West ) have all lawyered up over a problem that drives artists nuts.
Grande’s lawsuit claims that unnamed “John Doe” hackers have repeatedly stolen and leaked her songs, photos and videos. She says she’s faced hundreds of such hacks since 2011, often targeting her producers or photographers to gain backdoor access to her private content.
“Ms. Grande initiates this action to uncover the identities of these currently unknown and unscrupulous individuals in order to hold them accountable for their invasive and reprehensible conduct,” her lawyers write, calling the hacks “unlawful and egregious.”
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Ariana Grande Sues Hackers Over Leaks of Unreleased Music: ‘Unlawful and Egregious’
Bill Donahue
Leaks of private information are an unfortunate fact of life in the modern world. But leaks of unreleased songs strike a particular nerve with musicians, who view it as a violation not just of their privacy, but of the vulnerable process of creating new art. And unlike many Americans, pop stars have the money to hire lawyers to go do something about it.
In her case, Grande says it harmed the “sacred relationship” she has with fans. When Kelsea Ballerini sued in 2024, she said only she “can say when the recordings are complete” and that a leaker had “stripped [her] of that right.” Madonna went even further, calling the leak of a 2015 album “a form of terrorism” that “destroys the artistic process.”
“No one likes having their personal information or work product hacked and leaked to the public, and that’s especially true for recording artists and songwriters,” says Tal Dickstein , a veteran music attorney at the law firm Loeb & Loeb who represents stars in court. “[Artists] invest enormous amounts of time, money and creative energy curating their public images and planning exactly how and when their works reach the public.”
Whether legal action is effective is a complicated question. After all, it’s largely impossible to unleak songs: “There’s usually no way to put the genie back in the bottle,” Dickstein says. It’s also often difficult to locate the hackers, much less extract any sort of monetary judgment from them. Seeking criminal charges can carry more weight, though there’s no guarantee authorities can or will do much either.
But nabbing the actual perpetrators of a specific leak is only part of the reason stars hire lawyers to fight back. The real goal is often broader and more forward-looking: “Filing legal claims,” Dickstein says, “can send a clear message that deters would-be hackers from engaging in this kind of unlawful activity.”
As Grande’s case moves ahead, here’s a list of all the music stars who have taken legal action in recent years after their music was leaked on the internet.
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