After years of frustration over leaked music, Ariana Grande is taking the issue to court.
According to Billboard, the Grammy-winning artist filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles court Monday and claimed that anonymous hackers stole unreleased music, photos, and video footage that are “part of her personal and professional creative process and that are not intended for public consumption.” She alleged they targeted her photographers and producers to gain access to the materials, then sold it “on the dark web” for large sums of money.
Grande accused the hackers of violating the “sacred relationship that exists between her and her fans” and is suing for invasion of privacy, violation of California computer hacking laws, and conversion. Her lawyers said the “malicious invasion of Ms. Grande’s privacy and disruption of her career have caused her substantial and irreparable harm due to this breach of privacy.”
The defendants are listed as “John Doe,” but Grande is likely to seek court approval to issue subpoenas to uncover the identities of the alleged hackers behind the attacks through internet service providers and online platforms. “Ms. Grande initiates this action to uncover the identities of these currently unknown and unscrupulous individuals in order to hold them accountable for their invasive and reprehensible conduct,” lawyers for the artist stated.
The lawsuit claims that the leaks have been ongoing for years and that Grande has been hit with “hundreds” of such leaks since 2011. The complaint states that in 2019, a swath of “still-in-production, unreleased masters and demos and footage” was stolen, and that in 2023 alone, 45 of her songs were swiped. It also states that unreleased photos of Grande were stolen in phishing scams in two 2024 attacks.
“Neither Ms. Grande nor any other public or private figure should have to suffer such violations caused by these wrongdoers who hide in the shadows and wreak technological havoc with impunity,” Grande’s attorneys wrote. “It is imperative to Ms. Grande to ensure on behalf of herself and others that such conduct is deterred to the fullest extent possible.”
In a February 2024 interview with the Zach Sang Show, Grande addressed her leaked song “Fantanize” and had a message for the perpetrators behind it. “The few studio sessions that I did — which are all over TikTok, thank you so much. I’ll see you in jail, literally,” Grande said. “Those were all written for a TV show, for this thing that was not for me. So ‘Fantasize’ comes out — Comes out. Crazy. Was stolen — thieves, pirates, illegal. I’ll pay you more to put it away, to get it back.” The chance for any alleged hacker to make amends seems to have passed, and it looks like they may be facing Grande’s lawyers in court instead.
