Summer Walker sued to get out of her first deal. Now the label says she owes it a cut of her tour

Summer Walker went to court in August to break the deal she signed with LVRN at the start of her career. LVRN has now answered by asking a court to make her pay.

In a 14-page counterclaim filed in Fulton County, Georgia, and made public this week, the Atlanta label and management company denies Walker’s accusations of fraud and breach of contract and says she is the one who stopped keeping her side of the deal. It asks the court to throw out her lawsuit, find in LVRN’s favour and award damages to be set at trial, plus its legal fees.

The filing says LVRN “at no time” acted in bad faith, and turns the same charge back on the singer, saying she has been “stubbornly litigious”.

What does LVRN say Walker owes?

Three cuts of her income. LVRN says it is entitled to 15 per cent of the money she earns from business opportunities it secured for her, 20 per cent of her songwriting performance royalties, and 7 per cent of the proceeds of her 2026 Finally Over It tour.

The tour figure is the sharpest claim. LVRN says Walker paid its share of the tour money at first and then stopped. The filing does not put a dollar figure on what it says is owed.

What is Walker’s case?

Walker sued in Fulton County Superior Court on 28 August, accusing LVRN of breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract and fraudulent concealment. She alleges the company used money set aside for her recording, touring, marketing and merchandise to cover its own costs, kept her in the dark about the finances, and paid her nothing from Amazon and YouTube pages that used her name and likeness.

She signed with LVRN on 15 September 2017 and says the company betrayed the trust of a 19-year-old. She wants the agreement declared “void and unenforceable”, plus compensatory and punitive damages.

These are allegations, LVRN denies them, and none has been tested in court.

How has Walker’s side responded?

Her lawyer, Keith Moten, said the counterclaim “does nothing to change the fundamental issues” in her case, and criticised LVRN for seeking more money from the artist. He said Walker remains “steadfast in her pursuit of accountability”. Her manager, Aubrey Banks, said Walker respects the legal process and will keep speaking up for herself and other artists while the case runs.

Why is a second label suing her?

Because Walker is trying to leave the whole arrangement at once. Seven weeks after signing with LVRN, on 1 November 2017, she signed an expanded joint-venture deal with Interscope, the Universal Music label LVRN partners with. In August she told Interscope she would stop working under that contract from 27 August, arguing it was no longer enforceable.

Interscope sued her in Los Angeles County Superior Court on 9 October, seeking at least US$50 million. Its case turns on a count: the deal calls for five studio albums, and Interscope says her early projects Last Day of Summer and CLEAR were “pre-album projects” that do not count. Walker is relying on California’s seven-year rule, the law that limits how long a personal services contract can bind an artist, and disputes the claim. A hearing is set for 15 April.

Why does this matter beyond one singer?

Walker’s second album, Still Over It, went to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2021, and her fight goes to the heart of how young artists are signed: one company managing her and taking commissions while also acting as her label, inside a major-label deal that counts some records and not others. Every number in these filings, from the 7 per cent tour cut to the five-album count, is the kind of term most fans never see. Whatever the courts decide, two judges are now being asked to say what Walker’s 2017 signatures are worth in 2026.