film / tv / substack / social media / lists / web / celeb / pajiba love / misc / about / cbr
film / tv / substack / web / celeb

dr-luke-press-2014-650.jpg

Is Dr. Luke Goin' Down? We're Yelling TIMBER!

By Jodi Smith | Celebrity | March 9, 2016 |

By Jodi Smith | Celebrity | March 9, 2016 |


Courtney already gave you an overview of Kesha’s situation with Dr. Luke and the various facets of the case. Kesha was told that she would have to fulfill her contract with Sony, but she would not be forced to work with Dr. Luke. (By the way, calling yourself Dr. Luke is straight twattery. I’m guessing his PhD is imaginary, like Doc McStuffins’.) The Wrap is reporting exclusively that Sony will be dropping Dr. Luke before his contract is up in 2017, citing him as a PR disaster.

Once the initial ruling was handed down, other singers who had worked with Dr. Luke - his real goddamn name is Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald - said he was a real dickweed and a bully. Kelly Clarkson was on Australian radio when she said:

“I wasn’t there [with Kesha]. I don’t know what happened specifically in their situation. Obviously I wasn’t in the room. But I can remark on his character.

“Unfortunately when you have that poor of character, like so many artists don’t like you and don’t like working with you. You know, that’s not normal. I get along with everybody I work with. He’s just not a good guy for me.

“I’ve run into a couple of really bad situations, musically. It’s really hard for me because he’ll just lie to people, and it makes the artist look bad. He’s kind of difficult to work with and kind of demeaning. It’s kind of unfortunate.

“They [the record label] were like, ‘We will not put your album out if you don’t do this. It was a really hard time for me. And I tried to make the best of the situation.”

I obviously wasn’t there when the alleged assaults on Kesha took place either, but I know that a person who doesn’t respect women while working with them will not respect them anywhere else.

So, just why in the shit would Sony refuse to release Kesha from her contract? Why wouldn’t they drop Gottwald’s ass soon after the allegations and the comments from Clarkson and other heavy-hitting Kesha supporters? Because Gottwald is a writer and producer who is considered a hit maker. What has he co-written and/or produced?

Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball”. Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl”, “California Gurls”, and several other songs. Pit Bull’s “Timber”. Britney Spears’ “Circus”. And a myriad of songs for Nicki Minaj, Jessie J, Avril Lavigne, Shakira, Pink, and more. Sony would be dropping someone who appears to churn out hits as easily as my dog pops out farts.

Gottwald also has two publishing companies for songwriting and an imprint label under Sony called Kemosabe Records. Kesha is actually signed to that imprint. I would suspect losing him would take the bevy of songs and songwriters he controls effectively out of Sony’s grasp. The same with the imprint label and all of the artists signed to it. As The Wrap says, “Sony is believed to have hired Gottwald less for his ability to build a stable of artists under a traditional label model than to secure exclusive rights to his services as a producer of hit records.”

Money. It all comes down to money.

Of course, Gottwald’s reps are telling outlets that the split with Sony is a fabrication and that they still have a great relationship. That sounds like someone covering, while a mutually beneficial split can be negotiated, leaving Gottwald with some face and Sony without a breach of contract problem.