Q&A: Is this considered extortion? and what can I do?
Question by Joey: Is this considered extortion? and what can I do?
Hi there, I recently parted way with my music manager that I was in contract with, as they proved them self to be useless, and to Terminate all agreements.. sunset clauses ect they wanted to be bought out of the contract. The only problem is that he changed all the pass codes to our Facebook, Myspace, Twitter accounts and completely locked us out unless we paid him. Knowing that we are about to release a record, he knows how crucial these sites are to feeding information to fans (10,000 of them) We are about to release a record and they no time is not our side as far as dragging this out in court. Each site is in the bands name is the content of the band.. design, material ect. Here is a copy of his statement through email
This email shall serve as an official acknowledgement from management to band that I hereby agree to release band from all agreements under or associated with Management Group , I further agree to release all files, and websites, passwords and usernames associated with band once all terms have been agreed upon and the “Initial Payment: has been received.
In order to start this process band agrees to pay Management Group a sum of $ 1000.00 to be paid as follows:
$ 500.00 issued and sent on 3/1/2010
$ 500.00 issued and received no later than May 31st, 2010
Once we get the first payment we will send over all usernames and passwords, we will also issue an official release the week of 3/1/2010 once we receive the first initial payment.
can i sue, or press charges for extortion? any help would be great! this management company could have taken the hi road but i believe they are just immature and handled the parting very poorly. I have had mangers in the past who have been very professional.. even when we parted ways.. this is something totally new… again he is holding something that doesn’t belong to him as an insurance that this matter be handled quickly… thanks
Best answer:
Answer by SPLATT
Contact a labor lawyer.
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