To quickly review what has happened until this point, LMFAO members Stefan Kendal Gordy (Redfoo) and Skyler Austen Gordy (SkyBlu) were first sued in March 2012 by RPMGRP, a firm run by Rene McLean. The lawsuit alleged that after LMFAO skyrocketed toward success with hits like “Party Rock Anthem” and “Sexy and I Know It,” the electronic duo “thanked their managers who took them ‘from 0 to 60’ by throwing them under the tour bus (i.e. firing them). Instead of hiring new managers, LMFAO then poached two employees of the original managers, hiring them on a salary instead of paying a commission to the original managers.”
LMFAO responded by filing a petition at the California Labor Commissioner to deem McLean as violating California’s Talent Agencies Act (TAA), which says only licensed talent agents can procure employment for clients. If successful, LMFAO will be able to have their agreement with McLean’s firm declared void and unenforceable.
The TAA is loathed by many Hollywood managers for giving talent an outlet to escape commissions, but the statute hasn’t quite impacted the music business to the same degree thanks to an exclusion for the procurement of recording contracts. As one example, see Macy Gray‘s fight at the California Labor Commissioner, which resulted in a 2001 ruling that the R&B star couldn’t escape obligations to her ex-manager.