JoJo – trying not to think about it

[Peaches. [Ch, r. is]]

"Agápē" is now streaming on her SoundCloud page. It will be available for download on Thursday.

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Since the label is giving her trouble releasing her 3rd studio album 'Jumping Trains' she scrapped the project and is releasing this mixtape scheduled for December 20.

Download her first free mixtape "Can't Take that Away From Me" here.

No Tracklist yet.

[Au$tin]

"We Get By" is okay. Nothing that great. I do like the heavy 90s r&b influence, though.

I actually really like "Andre," though!

[Live Your Life]

I thought it was cool how Demi brought up JoJo when commenting on Carly Rose's performance on X Factor this week:

[Keelzit]

Agápē means love in greek. It's actually written as áãÜðç in case anyone wants to put it as their username

I can't @ this girl being so talented and her label screwing her up. I just don't get why she hasn't had better offers from other labels and she continues to work with this flop label she's under.

[Linnethia Monique]

It's because you just can't go to another label when you are disappointed with them. She's had plenty of offers but it means nothing if you can't get out of your current contract. She will be sued and quick by Blackground.

[SHOOTER]

www.middlechildpromotions.com/wp/review-jojo-with-leah-labelle-at-the-roxy/

[Live Your Life]

She's just always had horrible luck with labels and management. She's been offered record deals since she was 8, and wound up signing with the worst label ever. It's just her luck that Vincent Herbert, now seen as one of the biggest music executives in the world, brought her over to Blackground 10 years ago. I wish he could manage her now.

[Live Your Life]

[K.]

When did she sign her contract with Blackground? There is a 7 year limit on personal services contracts in California. I would think that duration would be up pretty soon.

[Deleted]

Dec 11, 2012 15:43:31 GMT -5 K. said:

When did she sign her contract with Blackground? There is a 7 year limit on personal services contracts in California. I would think that duration would be up pretty soon.

I thought she said there was no time limit in the contract, though. That is what she tweeted a while back, IIRC. She signed her contract with Blackground in 2003. So this contract is nine years old now, assuming there wasn't a renewal at any point.

Is it possibly that a contract becomes null if it hasn't been honored in seven years? If that is the case then Blackground hasn't been doing their part since her second album was released in October 2006, and the seven year mark would be up in October next year. I wonder a lot what legal team JoJo has or can afford, because there are a few different ways to try to go at this and I suspect the reason she's still stuck is because whoever her lawyer is hasn't picked the right angle yet.

[K.]

Dec 11, 2012 16:17:23 GMT -5 @cynthiarose said:

Dec 11, 2012 15:43:31 GMT -5 K. said:

When did she sign her contract with Blackground? There is a 7 year limit on personal services contracts in California. I would think that duration would be up pretty soon.

I thought she said there was no time limit in the contract, though. That is what she tweeted a while back, IIRC. She signed her contract with Blackground in 2003. So this contract is nine years old now, assuming there wasn't a renewal at any point.

Is it possibly that a contract becomes null if it hasn't been honored in seven years? If that is the case then Blackground hasn't been doing their part since her second album was released in October 2006, and the seven year mark would be up in October next year. I wonder a lot what legal team JoJo has or can afford, because there are a few different ways to try to go at this and I suspect the reason she's still stuck is because whoever her lawyer is hasn't picked the right angle yet.

I don't think so. If a contract hasn't been honored in seven years I would think that would qualify as a breach of contract. In which case Jojo would be free to just walk. But I'm talking about something a little different.

Under CA Labor Code 2855:

Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (b), a contract to render personal
service, other than a contract of apprenticeship as provided in Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 3070), may not be enforced against the employee beyond seven years from the commencement of service under it. Any contract, otherwise valid, to perform or render service of a special, unique, unusual, extraordinary, or intellectual character, which gives it peculiar value and the loss of which cannot be reasonably or adequately compensated in damages in an action at law, may nevertheless be enforced against the person contracting to render the service, for a term not to exceed seven years from the commencement of service under it.

I guess the problem might be that, elsewhere in the statute, it says that the label can receive damages if the artist failed to produce the required number of records during the term. But Jojo has produced records -- the label I guess just hasn't been satisfied with them? I would think that would put the label in tricky legal territory, though.

There's also the issue that I think she entered this contract before she was 18. I don't know why she didn't void the contract in 2008 when she became an adult, since the issues go back to well before that time (if I remember correctly).

I guess it's possible that some law other than CA's applies here, but since both Jojo and Blackground are based in CA I would think CA law would govern.

Anyway, this is a long way of saying I know this area of the law is very complicated and even untested, and I'm probably missing something, but I would think many lawyers would be drawn to Jojo's case, and I don't think she'd have any trouble finding or paying for one if she really wanted to challenge it. It's things like this that make me question whether we are getting the whole story here.

[Deleted]

I know when she went to court a few years ago it was to get out of her contract with Da Family Entertainment. I don't know why Blackground wasn't part of that, or if they were, why she wasn't able to void her contract with them too.

I was definitely thinking about breach of contract when I said there are a few different ways to go about it. My first thought was that they were trying to prove the contract is unenforceable. This probably isn't working, and they need to forgo that and argue that Blackground is in breach and/or repudiating the contract - even if it is an enforceable one, by not releasing any of her material, they're not allowing JoJo to honor her end. Blackground will probably try to point to the radio releases of "Disaster" and "Demonstrate" as good-faith efforts but I would argue it's clear that they had no real plans of releasing any full albums. When did they officially lose their Interscope distribution? Seems like that must have happened shortly after "Disaster" and that probably effed everything up for them. It's not even a matter of whether they are refusing to release something; they simply can't and have no foreseeable income to do so, and that should be grounds for allowing JoJo out of it.

We likely don't have the full story. The details we do have JoJo has only revealed in bits and pieces herself, and that was frustrated Twitter ranting from what I can tell. But of what we do know it is hard to imagine any other detail that would put Blackground in a better light unless she did in fact re-up her contract at some point after 2004, in which case the courts are looking at a different 'countdown' date and would say not enough time has passed to consider an argument of breach or that the time limit on services rendered has been met. (If this last part is indeed what she is dealing with, I would definitely put all emphasis on the lack of a distribution deal; that would be cause for an anticipatory breach.) The more I think about it, the more I think a lawyer should really push the anticipatory breach argument in this case.

I would like to think Blackground could work out a deal to license Aaliyah and JoJo's material to Ca$h Money or to Drake's label (he DOES have distribution) and her albums could be released that way, without them losing her (though they'd be giving up part of the profits of course). This could be complicated, but is the only way I can think of them being able to hold on to the contract and finally release any material of hers.


I would like to add the disclaimer that I in no way purport to be a lawyer or legal expert and that nothing stated in this post is to be misconstrued as legal advice.

[Deleted]

Dec 12, 2012 1:41:27 GMT -5 @cynthiarose said:

Blackground will probably try to point to the radio releases of "Disaster" and "Demonstrate" as good-faith efforts but I would argue it's clear that they had no real plans of releasing any full albums.

That's what I've been thinking. They can show the "receipts" that they've released her material recently, while she may not be able to prove what their intentions are. They can just say they're not releasing a full album because the singles haven't performed as well as anticipated, and that they're going to wait for stronger material. I don't know the actual limit on the amount of time they can go without actually releasing material before she can get out. They probably prevented her by releasing "Disaster" and "Demonstrate" to radio. Now the clock is reset.

[Deleted]

^Yeah, that is what worries me most, "Disaster" in particular. "Demonstrate" never got added to iTunes, but "Disaster" did, so that is at least something they put on sale and they can claim absolute bullshit that the material did not perform well enough so they needed to change tactics. It's so ridiculous though, this girl has made so much material and gotten good critical reception for what we have heard; it's obviously not a matter of "well everyone is saying this is shit so obviously we're not going to continue releasing shit."

I still think anticipatory breach would be her strongest argument now, since they have no distribution.

[Live Your Life]

"Agápē" is now streaming on her SoundCloud page. It will be available for download on Thursday.

She performed a 4-song acoustic set for That Grape Juice:





The other two performances will be uploaded later this week.

haveyouseenjojo.tumblr.com/

[Ivy Leegue™]

Wow. I had no idea she was such a pothead. At times, it's all a bit too try-hard and off-putting but she should definitely go to work with 40 for a full-length album, as she seems to fit in with that vibe and aesthetic. Solid mixtape.

[Live Your Life]

It's her best work to date, IMO. You can definitely tell she was inspired by Frank Ocean. Her songwriting has improved, and her new smokey, gritty tone really compliments the production. I could do without all the interludes, but at the same time, I like the culture it brings. It just would have been better suited for a longer album. Also, I'm not a fan of the mixing on some songs, but it's understandable, given how a lot of it was recorded.

My favorites are "We Get By," "Billions," and "Can't Handle the Truth."

[Deleted]

I LOVE "Take The Canyon". This is a good direction for her.

[die Lotterie]

This is my shit! Perfect follow-up to "Can't That Away From Me". "Back To The Beginning Again" and "Take The Canyon" are jams.

[surprise]

Can't Handle the Truth is my sweet JAM!

[Deleted]

Billions, Cant Handle My Truth, and We Get By.
No rating for the interludes (yet).

[Live Your Life]

Haven't heard her sing like that in years. All those runs lol.

[Hefty Hanna]

Her voice is still great, I still love it. What her career has become is such a shame but I'm still pulling for a comeback.

[George]

I wonder if she's going to film a video for one of the tracks?

[darko95]

she should try some hosting gigs on Fuse. Not a permanent gig, just to give her some exposure with the younger audiences.

[Deleted]

The "Andre" video was filmed this weekend.

[Live Your Life]

Jan 28, 2013 11:33:11 GMT -5 @jazzysoul47 said:

The "Andre" video was filmed this weekend.

Pics from the set:

[Ivy Leegue™]

She. Can. Get. It.

[EmersonDrive13Rocks]

Well this mixtape is awesome but I still prefer the sound from the leaked songs of "Jumping Trains"! There is a twitter campaign to #FREEJOJO from Blackground records! Someone is selling Free JoJo T-shirts!

I want a new JoJo album and a tour though even if she does get free from Blackground and a new record deal it will take a successful promotional campaign for whatever song is the 1st single.

[ineeee]

Thing is, I think the contract wasn't signed in CA, that's why the 7 year thing doens't apply.