Donald Glover's Record Label Might Be Suing Him Over Streaming Rights

Donald Glover/Childish Gambino "This Is America" Music Video

Donald Glover might soon be in trouble with his own record label, Glassnote Entertainment Group. In a recent lawsuit, they claim Glover, i.e. Childish Gambino, has robbed them of the streaming royalties they are owed, and they're going to get the law involved to settle the matter. How much in royalties does Glassnote Entertainment Group believed they are owed? According to the settlement, the record label claims Donald Glover received more than $700,000 in streaming money, and Glassnote says they haven't seen a single dollar from that big pile of cash. Now, they're looking to their share of the pie from Glover through the court of law. Here's what we know about the forthcoming legal situation with Glassnote Entertainment Group.

As it was reported by TMZ, Glassnote Entertainment Group has produced three albums with Donald Glover, which includes 2011's Camp, 2013's Because the Internet and 2016's acclaimed, best-selling Awaken, My Love, which most notably included his chart-topping hit, "Redbone," famously heard at the beginning of Jordan Peele's hit horror film Get Out last year. As a musician, Donald Glover made a colossal impact with "This is America" and its brilliant, albeit controversial, and heavily-viewed music video, which debuted online shortly after its live premiere on Saturday Night Live in the spring. It currently has more than 323 million views on YouTube, and it shows zero signs of slowing down in viewership anytime soon.

According to Glassnote Entertainment Group, Donald Glover has received close to $8 million from their accounts, and the organization is expected to pay him $2 million in royalties within the next three months. Additionally, the record label claims Glover is making the label pay $1.5 million in a recent demand, which is why it aims to resolve the streaming royalties disputes. Now, the record label and the artist are planning to take their recent cash disputes into court.

Donald Glover is currently working on another untitled album right now, which is expected to arrive later this year. According to reports from Donald Glover himself, it's supposedly his last album as Childish Gambino. Of course, that's subject to change, especially with his popularity growing by the millisecond. This record will reportedly not be released under Glassnote's label, but rather through Wolf + Rothstein and RCA. There's no word yet on whether or not this legal situation is going to impact the release or distribution of his forthcoming album release, which has no release date disclosed at the time of this writing. Gambino is currently planning to go on tour in the fall. His first stop is in Atlanta on September 6th, which is appropriately enough, as Donald Glover is also the creator, lead actor, head writer and sometimes director on FX's acclaimed series, Atlanta.

Beyond his music career and his recent legal troubles, Donald Glover can currently be seen playing a young Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story, in theaters now.

Will Ashton

Will is an entertainment writer based in Pittsburgh, PA. His writing can also be found in The Playlist, Cut Print Film, We Got This Covered, The Young Folks, Slate and other outlets. He also co-hosts the weekly film/TV podcast Cinemaholics with Jon Negroni and he likes to think he's a professional Garfield enthusiast.