EXCLUSIVE: Jennifer Lopez And Sony Music Epic Records Part Ways; New Album "Love?" Won't Be Released; Is It Amicable?

Jennifer Lopez has spent most of her singing career at Sony Music Epic Records. The bland version of what happened, I’m told, is that the contract period had ended and that Lopez had fulfilled it with her last two singles, and that Lopez and Stringer decided together not to move forward with an album. Others insist the Sony label dropped her. There also is disagreement on how finished her upcoming album was before it was canceled. Internet reports say her 7th studio album, titled "Love?", was supposed to come out in April and featured production from Danja, Jim Jonsin, Darkchild, Chris n Teeb from Dropzone, and The Neptunes among others. A song from it titled "Fresh Out The Oven" surfaced online in October 2009 as a buzz single and reached #1 on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Songs chart. But the official lead single, "Louboutins", had its radio debut on November 23 following the song's premiere and performance at the 2009 American Music Awards and then peaked at #31 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart.

Lopez insiders claim to me the album was "by no means done" and everyone was "only a few songs into it" and "unlike movie dates, street dates rarely hold in the music biz". But that album was real enough to delay the release of her upcoming CBS Film, The Back-Up Plan (see below). Others tell me the album isn't being released because "Louboutins" bombed, as did her performance at the American Music Awards, and Sony Music execs "aren't sure who her audience is anymore. Where once she had little girls, she's been supplanted by Beyonce, Gaga, and Rhianna. Lots of fighting going on between Benny Medina (who, of course, is spending their money like it's 10 years ago) and the label."

But when I began inquiring about this, her manager Benny Medina emailed this morning to confirm the split. "Jennifer had a wonderful relationship with the Sony Music group, and they have shared many successes together, but the time was right to make a change that best serves the direction her career as an actress and recording artist. She is grateful and appreciative to everyone Sony for all that they accomplished together."

The Lopez insiders claim the decision was "a mutual one" between the star and label’s current CEO Rob Stringer (younger brother to Sony parent company CEO Howard Stringer). They say the two had a meeting at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles during Grammy week, and, after a "heart-to-heart" conversation, the star and executive decided to end the long relationship. “It was all very amicable. They hugged at the end of the meeting,” claims one. Meanwhile, I understand that Sony will still be releasing her "Greatest Hits" album in the fall.

Supposedly, Lopez has not wasted any time getting signed elsewhere: it’s rumored she is already in talks with Island Def Jam’s bigwig L.A. Reid to come to his label. Granted, this is a tough time for music artists, especially those like Lopez who were once big in the biz and now are battling not only the changed economics and rampant piracy but also the moving target of today’s music fans. JLo insiders insist none of this is fazing Lopez, who took time off to have two kids with her recording star husband, Marc Anthony, and who is just now returning to her acting career with the release of the feature The Back Up Plan.

But CBS Films recently announced it's postponing the release of that romantic comedy to April 23rd, same weekend as Wall Street 2 and MacGruber. It had been scheduled for April 16th which then got too crowded. And before that January 22nd when it was to be the first CBS Film. Complicating The Back-Up Plan's release as well was that J-Lo/Sony album and exactly when she'd be available to do publicity for the film. Well, no one has to worry about that now.

Meanwhile, JLo is scheduled as both the musical guest and the host of Saturday Night Live next weekend. But now she has no record and no movie to promote. Hmm.

http://www.deadline.com/h...-amicable/
[Edited 2/22/10 15:53pm]

It amazes me that artists of this stature, i mean JLO can write her own ticket, for that movie that now has been pushed back, she scored millions and it probably sucks, but she is paid. But what gets me is they run, perfume lines, book deals, have their own fashion lines, and yet NEED A LABEL??? At this point if you are at this level of "income" and are still in need of a label, dont record. She could and others could easily hire some fool to run their website and distribute that way and make more than they did of their shitty hits. These Icons need to really start using their heads already, I mean didnt anyone listen to Prince's logic 15 years ago, they are all still making the same dumb ass moves.

On the other note, Marc Anthony is very smart, he owns his catalog and i have heard he is going on his own with the catalog and his next record. And regardless of trends Marc can sell shit to anyone
[Edited 2/22/10 16:01pm]

Do record companies still spend millions on promo, videos, albums? Because they shouldn't be LOL.

Sony is a disaster anyway, unless you are Beyonce, you can forget getting anything heard. Duran Duran recenlty parted ways with them, and said they were the second worst label they had been with, the first was their one album deal with "Hollywood" records, which Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran said was run by "disney characters" for real.

VoicesCarry said:

thesexofit said:

They do depending on who you are, the people at labels still make money, people are fooled by the fact that music doesnt sell, that does not equate to SUITS not getting paid, they will always find a way to make money, artists dont make shit, unless they have a giant contract or can tour and do shows, thats why all the mega-stars do other things like perfume lines,clothing lines, vitamin water.

Diddy (believe it or not) said it best when he said "if i had only the BadBoy label id be broke" this was when he had 2 number one groups in Danity Kane and Day 26 two gold and platnum albums, and he said due to the marketing of this stuff it was all operating at a loss.

lastdecember said:

Yeah, Hollywood is owned by Disney LOL. I think they had Queen to distribute in the US at one point in the early 90's aswell LOL. (Not sure why EMI's Capital arm in the US didn' bother to pick up Queen?). I think thats changed now though.

midiscover said:

LA needs to chill the fuck out, because he is one signing away from getting the door. He is cool and all, but he is talking out of his ass on certain things and not doing the marketing and push he claims he is capable off

lastdecember said:

LA is horrible I will never understand how he's allowed to run a label after he tanked Arista.

thesexofit said:

Yeah Hollywood is weird, they seemed like nothing more than a distribution type label or re-issue type label, they really dont have money, despite their disney ownership, the only thing that really blew up on Hollywood was Hilary Duff, but then again how can you not be able to sell the "disney kid" of the moment, she was smart and walked on them too.

lastdecember said:

Iam amazed if majors still plug say 4 million into any artists project. Its just stupid. But yeah I see your point about suits getting paid. They get paid first I presume and then, once the artists has covered their sky high recording costs etc.., then they get paid, which as albums arn't selling, means probably fuck all.

midiscover said:

To put this is in Baseball terms he is like the NY METS owner Omar Minaya, it started off nice now the Mets are a last place team, thanks but no thanks. I mean in certain cases Reid can see things, but he is so full of himself. AND dont get me started on Benny Medina who i see quoted in this article, because he is the biggest weasel ever in music.

thesexofit said:

Oh they get paid because its all under one "umbrella", the labels now arent soley music, they are media , they own the magazines and the other things that they use for promoting so its like the way america works, you are pushing money from one column to another. So if im JLO put this shit out yourself, you already manage all your businesses, just add this to the column, i mean thats what kills me about MEGA stars like this, if you claim to be that into "music" then take the loss and just put the shit out yourself

lastdecember said:

Ha, Hollywood I presume does all those Hannah Montana, high school musical, Jonas Brothers Disney artists, which means, at the moment, they are doing well. But yeah they were small fry back in the early 90's. I know Hollywood pictures started up around 1989 so thats when I presume the record label started up aswell. Heck, Disney Iam sure are no less shady then most other record labels LOL.

They had The Party though. A Disney group that didn't make any waves back then. Iam sure Disney/Hollywood records had big ideas by trying to get some of that NKOTB money. The very arrogent Maurice Starr said that at the time, nobody tried to compete with NKOTB. Its true. In 1990/1991, Disney and SBK (both quite small labels) tried and failed as the bubble had already burst by 1991.

Still, I love all that stuff, and The Party had some fun pop music.

lastdecember said:

Oww, I love stories like this, do elaborate

Cinnie said:

Nothing really, she was a little upset that "Dignity" (which was. like HER or not, one of the best records of 2007) was cast aside by them, she really had to do alot of it out of pocket, luckily she is one of the smart ones and hasnt blown her money. But after the album she did a world tour had some new music wanted to record another album and release it, they said no, lets RE-RELEASE the current album, she said NO. the tour ended they called her in to re-sign she turned down more money and left them with two tracks a remix and best of record.

Hollywood BASIC http://www.discogs.com/la...wood+BASIC

Cinnie said:

God bless Discogs. I never thought of looking them up LOL.

VoicesCarry said:

MOTHERF SON-OF-A




NOOOOO!!!!!

CHIC0 said:

Im waiting for the news on Toni Braxton too....you know thats coming at any moment. But was there ever really an album?? I mean they said "Love" coming in April but they were tossing out (Sorry LEAKING) tracks that werent even done, this is the new thing, Honestly i dont think there was a finished album even close. The new Duran Duran album is 14 tracks down, and now Simon has to do the vocals, that shit isnt coming till 2011, no way JLO had something complete and ready to go, they were just playing and leaking shit and see what stuck and what didnt.

Her fine ass better get a Greatest Hits DVD too!!

lastdecember said:

No.1 Jennifer is not an icon by any stretch of the imagination. She is just someone that can keep a beat. The problem starts when you have people like her who want to do more than one thing. She started out as a choreographer and then because of people like Puff, decides to do music, then it spread to acting. When you have your finger in more than one pie, something is going to suffer. Marc is very smart indeed. Yes, he did that movie. But if you notice, that movie had music within it. This way, he could always if the movie bombed,(which it didn't) he knew that he did his thing when it came to the music. I wondered what took her label so long to drop her non talented ass...

basically sums up the industry. says more about the music biz than J.Lo even

thesexofit said:

Kylie used to be on Capitol in the U.S. but is now on their Astralwerks imprint, with all the "quirky" acts like The B-52s and Yoko Ono. I guess she's seen as "alternative" rather than mainstream by Capitol. Weird.

lastdecember said:

and i remember hearing that Jennifer Lopez or maybe Sony's plans were to do a single by single release instead of focusing on albums. and a few other artists had mentioned it as well. the new trend since people just download tracks instead of buying albums.

and people can say what they want about Jennifer Lopez, but selling over 50 million (give or take) albums, several number 1 singles, and albums...she's been more successful than many others out there. i'm loving her 4 or 5 new songs i've heard, a lot!

i haven't heard anything regarding Toni's album. i thought it was still scheduled for release. i like the 1st single. or "buzz" singles as they are called now.

and that's some b.s. about Duran Duran too!!! wtf?!!? been waiting for their next one. and record companies wonder why people are stealing music. it doesn't make it right but quit fucking around the fans/audiences who made you successful in the 1st place.

i do think record companies and artists are lacking in keeping their fan bases. promotions are week, they take fans for granted, or expect it to be a sure fire hit because of a big name. it's happening to all major artists.


i don't give a fuck though..i'm still going to bat for J.LO!!

Cinnie said:

GirlBrother said:

Yeah EMI bought Capitol in the 50's I think? They just kept the old name in the US. Still pretty confusing as there is/was an EMI-America. EMI-America= Capital LOL. I dont get it? Labels use to be so confusing

I had no idea Kylie was with EMI? I know she hooked up with Stock Aiken and Watered-down in the 80's so I Presume the label was PWL back then, but I dont know who PWL got to distribute them?

thesexofit said:

IMO some of the people behind Kylie are complete twats!

CHIC0 said:

I use to hate them, but actually they did turn out some cheesy gems now and again. But considering how much stuff they did, their good song ratio is pretty low. Can't front on Mel and Kims "respectable" for example. I love that song And Rick Astley of course. "Never gonna give u up" is so played out, but its a great pop song.