Unenthused with the way she is being handled by Roc Nation, Rita Ora is suing the company and claims that her deal Roc Nation violates California law. Ora, who signed with Roc Nation in 2008 when she was 18, is using an old California Labor Code referred to as the "Seven Year Rule" to try and get off the label. The California Labor Code states that a person can not be subject to a contract to perform personal services beyond seven years from the beginning of the deal.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ora has been presenting herself as "orphaned" from Roc Nation now that the powerhouse media company is spending more and more time with sports management endeavors and in the streaming music world.

THR has obtained the complaint that reads as follows, "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."

Ora, who resides in California, claims she has been "self-funding her promotional television appearances, recording costs and video projects."

The singer's complaint also cites Roc Nation's 2013 distribution switch from Sony to Universal. Ora's lawyers say she has been left behind at Sony and "hamstrung" by Roc Nation's lack of attention to her. "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."

The "Seven Year Rule" often leads to contract renegotiations since record labels dispute that artists usually take longer than seven years to fulfill their agreed upon amount of albums. Artists who cite the "Seven Year Rule" can be countersued by the record labels for "lost profits" on uncompleted albums.

Ora, however, says that she has only been allowed to release one album since 2008 despite having recorded multiple projects for release. "Rita's relationship with Roc Nation is irrevocably damaged," says the complaint. "Fortunately for Rita, the California legislature had the foresight to protect its artists from the sorts of vicissitudes she's experienced with Roc Nation."

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