--- title: Dr. Luke's Music Contract Expires Amidst Ongoing Kesha Suit description: The pop producer is no longer the CEO of Kemosabe Records, the label he launched in 2011, although he retains a relationship with Sony canonical: https://time.com/4754992/kesha-dr-luke-sony-kemosabe/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-25T22:43:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:05:31.315Z og:title: Dr. Luke's Music Contract Expires Amidst Ongoing Legal Battles with Kesha og:description: The pop producer's official role as CEO of his own record label has ended og:url: https://time.com/4754992/kesha-dr-luke-sony-kemosabe/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf806f71893b332ae/6988ca970b72e323466ed836/dr-luke.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 31st Annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dr. Luke's Music Contract Expires Amidst Ongoing Legal Battles with Kesha twitter:description: The pop producer's official role as CEO of his own record label has ended twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf806f71893b332ae/6988ca970b72e323466ed836/dr-luke.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Dr. Luke's Music Contract Expires Amidst Ongoing Legal Battles with Kesha  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Apr 25, 2017 10:43 PM UTC  Producer Dr. Luke attends the 31st annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center on April 23, 2014 in Hollywood, California. Producer Dr. Luke attends the 31st annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center on April 23, 2014 in Hollywood, California.Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Apr 25, 2017 10:43 PM UTC Music producer Dr. Luke is no longer the CEO of the record label he founded under Sony Music in 2011, although he “still has a relationship” with Sony, [_Entertainment Weekly_ reports](http://ew.com/music/2017/04/25/dr-luke-sony-kemosabe-update/?xid=entertainment-weekly%5Fsocialflow%5Ftwitter). At the end of March, the embattled pop producer’s contract with his imprint Kemosabe Records expired. The contract’s expiration date has been on the books [for some time](http://time.com/4252867/dr-luke-denies-being-dropped-by-sony-kesha/), and comes in the midst of a round of Kemosabe employee layoffs [earlier in April](http://pitchfork.com/news/64668-dr-lukes-kemosabe-records-confirms-layoffs/), with the label opting to downsize in “certain departments,” according to Sony. The imprint has [represented musicians](https://www.beatport.com/label/kemosabe-records-rca-records/34507) like Elliphant, Becky G, and Juicy J, although pop singer Kesha was the most commercially successful signed artist. The news for Dr. Luke (real name: Lukasz Gottwald) comes in the middle of an ongoing legal battle with Kesha, with whom he worked in the late 2000s to produce major pop hits like “Tik Tok” and “We R Who We R.” In 2014, Kesha filed a sexual assault and battery lawsuit [against the producer](http://time.com/3507036/kesha-dr-luke-lawsuit/), and has accused him of verbal abuse, rape, and forcing her to take drugs and alcohol. He has repeatedly denied the allegations, and counter-sued for breach of contract. While she dropped her suit against him in California [last summer](http://motto.time.com/4434482/kesha-dr-luke-sexual-assault-lawsuit/), she continues to pursue legal action against him in New York. Courts have denied Kesha’s ability [to break her contract](http://time.com/4342272/kesha-dr-luke-billboard-music-awards/) while legal proceedings take place. Sony has previously stated they [are not capable](http://time.com/4252867/dr-luke-denies-being-dropped-by-sony-kesha/) of excising her from her relationship with Kemosabe. Representatives for Dr. Luke declined to comment. Representatives for Kesha did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday evening. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4754992/kesha-dr-luke-sony-kemosabe/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4754992/kesha-dr-luke-sony-kemosabe/"},"headline":"Dr. Luke's Music Contract Expires Amidst Ongoing Legal Battles with Kesha","datePublished":"2017-04-25T22:43:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:05:31.315Z","description":"The pop producer's official role as CEO of his own record label has ended.","url":"https://time.com/4754992/kesha-dr-luke-sony-kemosabe/","keywords":["motto","Music","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf806f71893b332ae/6988ca970b72e323466ed836/dr-luke.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf806f71893b332ae/6988ca970b72e323466ed836/dr-luke.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"31st Annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards","caption":"31st Annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards","creditText":"Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4754992/kesha-dr-luke-sony-kemosabe/","name":"Dr. Luke's Music Contract Expires Amidst Ongoing Legal Battles with Kesha"}}]}] ```