Boyband B5 had fairly decent success with Diddy‘s Bad Boy Records in the mid-00s, releasing two albums through the label and working with top producers such as Rodney Jerkins, Ryan Leslie, Sean Garrett and more before parting ways. However, they apparently never received a dime from any of it.
In a recent Instagram post commemorating the release of their self-titled debut album on Bad Boy, group member Bryan Breeding went into detail about the “snakes” who kept them from receiving money for their albums.
“We made about 99.9% of all our income from live performances & merchandise and till this day I’ve never seen a PENNY from any of our B5 commercial albums,” he wrote. “For years! We reach out to lawyers, advisors and even TV networks for a chance to help us or tell our story and no one ever touched it with a 10 foot pole.”
He went on to implore other artists to use his story as a cautionary tale, encouraging the same message artists such as Russ have been preaching — own your own music.
“So here I AM telling my story, my truth and not from a ‘woe is me’ perspective but as an example for the next generation of young artists to WRITE and OWN your content!” he added. “READ your contracts and create new sounds for the LOVE of music, as a expression of who YOU ARE! You don’t need to compromise for the bag or the glamorized ‘Record Label Deal’ we have enough artist like that and doing a great job at it.”
In response, the group’s lead singer Patrick Breeding also revealed Disney never paid fellow group member Kelly Breeding for his contribution to High School Musical.
“Oh we’re going there today?” he commented. “In that case Disney needs to run @gowiththeflow88 his check for writing the rap on #HighSchoolMusical #GetYourHeadInTheGame. He was 14 and they stole that check from him. And that’s just the tip.”
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This isn’t the first time artists have called out Bad Boy for their allegedly shady practices. In January, Ma$e put Diddy on blast for holding on to his publishing as well.
