Rita Ora Sues Roc Nation

On Thursday, the 25 year old British singer filled a lawsuit at the Los Angeles Superior Court against Jay Z and his record label Roc Nation requesting to be released from her contract. The complaint reads: "When Rita signed, Roc Nation and its senior executives were very involved with her as an artist. As Roc Nation's interests diversified, there were fewer resources available and the company suffered a revolving door of executives. Rita's remaining supporters at the label left or moved on to other activities, to the point where she no longer had a relationship with anyone at the company." It also calls Roc Nation a "diminished" record label with "only a handful of admittedly worthy heritage superstar artists". Ora describes herself as being "orphaned" due to the label's many other ventures, such as sports management and Tidal being at the forefront as opposed to it's artists, specifically her. She claims that her contract is "unenforceable" due to the singer's music still being distributed by Sony, despite the label switching distribution partners to Universal in 2013. The complaint says: "Between Sony's limited economic return from its orphaned relationship with Roc Nation and Sony's indirect relationship with Rita, Rita is caught in a political quagmire of dysfunction." Seven years on from signing to Roc Nation, Ora is using Labour Code (§2855) known as the Seven Year Rule to try to leave the label. Under California law, Labour Code (§2855) allows employers offering personal service to quit after seven years and prohibiting the employer from forcing them to come back to work for them or stop them for working for someone else no matter what the terms of the contract. Rita signed to the Roc Nation at 18 in and was one of Jay's first signings. Under the label she has released a few singles including Poison & Body On Me and only one album to date, her debut album, ORA, in 2012.