Summer Walker Moved to Leave Interscope. The Label Sued Her for $50 Million.

The label says she still owes two studio albums and an EP, even after she invoked California's seven-year rule.

Summer Walker's contract with Interscope Records set her first advance at $110,000, according to a copy Rolling Stone obtained. In a lawsuit filed Friday, the label says she owes it more than $50 million for albums she hasn't delivered.

The Grammy-nominated R&B singer told Interscope in August that she was done working under the deal. She cited a California labor law known as the seven-year rule. Interscope, which is owned by Universal Music Group, responded with a seven-page complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Rolling Stone reported.

The rule Walker used generally caps personal-services contracts in California at seven years, and record deals count. She first signed with Interscope in 2017. Her letter, quoted in the complaint, said that as of Aug. 27 she "will no longer render service under the agreement by reason of the fact that the agreement is no longer enforceable."

Interscope's position, according to the complaint, is that her notice doesn't wipe out what she owes. The label says the recordings she never turned in are still due.

By the label's count, her original deal and the amendments that followed called for five studio albums. Her early projects, Last Day of Summer and CLEAR, were classified as pre-album projects and didn't count toward that total, the complaint says. Interscope says two studio albums and an EP are still outstanding.

The lawsuit says the damages top $50 million and include the profits the label says it would have made if Walker had finished the deal. It wants a jury trial to decide the final amount and is also seeking prejudgment interest and legal costs.

The deal was under scrutiny long before this fight. Music industry experts who reviewed a draft for Rolling Stone called its terms "brutal," pointing to how unclear its length was and how little room it left her. The signed version carried similarly restrictive terms.

Later albums came with bigger advances. Her royalty on the first two was 16 percent, meaning 16 cents of every dollar of applicable royalty revenue, and it kicked in only after her advance and other costs charged to her were paid back. The $50 million Interscope wants is built partly on profit from records that don't exist yet.

An Interscope spokesperson told Rolling Stone that the two sides are still in talks and that the label hopes to settle things amicably. But the spokesperson said a legal deadline left the company no choice but to sue to protect the contract's terms. The label also said it respects Walker and would welcome a continued partnership.

Keith Moten, Walker's attorney, said in a statement to Rolling Stone that her team is "confident in Summer's legal position and her right to challenge the continued enforceability of her recording contract with Interscope." He said she's still open to a resolution that avoids a long court fight. In the meantime, Moten said, Walker plans to countersue the label.

Source: Rolling Stone, retrieved October 10, 2026.