Why Don't We
Pamela LittkyWhy Don’t We’s management team has split up and has now filed opposing lawsuits to keep the other out of the business -- and the band is taking sides.
Randy Phillips and his former longtime partner David Loeffler are suing each other over the boy band’s management and control of their companies Signature Entertainment and PDM III -- which have the exclusive right to “direct and control” both the band and the solo careers of its five members, as well as of the group’s music, its masters and all its revenue streams. And, according to a lawsuit Loeffler filed on Aug. 17, the five members of Why Don’t We -- Jack Avery (Age 19), Corbyn Besson (20), Zach Herron (17), Jonah Marais (20) and Daniel Seavey (19) -- are now refusing to sign a recording agreement with Atlantic Records or perform as a group until Phillips is reinstated as the group’s sole manager.
Phillips is a longtime veteran and former AEG Live CEO who has promoted tours for Bon Jovi, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, The Rolling Stones and Prince.
Loeffler is a longtime music manager, touring executive and film producer who directed Why Dont We’s 2019 film, Unbelievable.
Why Don’t We formed in September 2016, with the band's business set up as two manager-managed LLCs, Signature Entertainment and PDM III, with ownership stakes for all five group members. The LLCs would retain the rights to manage all aspects of the group and its individual members' careers and own their creative output, while categorizing the five members as salaried employees, according to the management agreement each member signed. The LLCs also fund and exclusively manage solo artist EBEN.
The next year, Phillips relinquished his role managing one of the LLCs, Signature Entertainment, in order to accept a job running LiveStyle, the company that emerged out of EDM promoter SFX's bankruptcy. Phillips returned to manage Why Don't We in 2020 and says Loeffler “abnegated his prior agreement to allow Plaintiff to reassume the role of manager [of Signature Entertainment],” according to a lawsuit filed against Loeffler on Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
NEWS
Steve Albini‘s bands Shellac and Big Black now have their catalogues available for listening on Spotify.
Albini passed away aged 61 earlier this month due to a heart attack. He was well known for being the producer of major albums such as Nirvana’s ‘In Utero‘, Pixies’ ‘Surfer Rosa’, PJ Harvey’s ‘Rid of Me’, Manic Street Preachers‘ ‘Journal For Plague Lovers’ and more.
Back in 2022, the late producer took his music off the streaming platform. He had previously criticised the company for platforming anti-vaxxers such as Joe Rogan, and tweeted later that they were a “terrible company”, adding: “I don’t want to be part of their business”.
He later told Attack Magazine that Spotify was “one of the few places outside of record stores where recorded music can earn anything at all, and for bands [with] more generous, honest relationships with independent labels not part of the ownership trust, then the payments from Spotify, though meager per-play, can add up to a viable income stream. Nobody’s getting rich, but it could pay for the groceries.”
Now, it appears that Albini’s work with his bands Shellac and Big Black are now available to stream on Spotify. This include’s Shellac’s final album ‘To All Trains’, which was announced shortly before Albini’s death and was released last Friday (May 17).
Tributes have poured in for the legendary producer since the announcement of his death. Our NME obituary hailed him as “a lone voice of anti-industry punk scene ethics, even as he worked with major labels on some of the biggest names in alternative rock.”
Meanwhile, Foo Fighters dedicated a rendition of ‘My Hero’ to the late producer in Charlotte, North Carolina last week.
“Tonight I’d like to dedicate this song to a friend that we lost the other day, who I’ve known a long, long time,” Foos frontman Dave Grohl told the crowd. “He left us much too soon. He’s touched all of your lives, I’m sure. I’m talking about Steve Albini. For those of you who know, you know. For those of you who don’t know, just remember that name: Steve Albini. Let’s sing this one for him.”
PJ Harvey also said he “changed the course of my life” during sessions for her 1993 LP ‘Rid Of Me’., and Joanna Newsom dedicated a version of her song ‘Cosmia’ to him, who engineered her 2006 album ‘Ys’. See further tributes here.
Elsewhere, Yourcodenameis:milo spoke to NME about how the 20th anniversary of their LP ‘All Roads To Fault’ was made all the more profound by the passing of Albini, who engineered the album.
Remembering their time with the punk and production legend, Lockey said: “We paid attention, saw everything he did, asked questions that he would gladly spend ages answering”.
“He once stopped the session and proceeded to give us a lecture on how the peanut built America. He schooled us in billiards, then showed us his favourite cooking shows that he’d recorded. It was all so natural and encouraging, we could do what the fuck we wanted and he’d capture it. That’s the deal, and we fucking loved it.”
