Kelsea Ballerini Settles Lawsuit With Fan Who Leaked Unreleased Music

The fan agreed to a permanent court order restricting him from accessing any unreleased content from the country musician

Kelsea Ballerini performs onstage during the 2024 CMA Music festival at Nissan Stadium on June 07, 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee.

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Kelsea Ballerini‘s lawsuit against a former fan who she accused of acquiring and leaking unreleased music has been settled. The defendant, Bo Ewing, has agreed to a permanent court order restricting him from accessing or distributing any additional content from the country musician.

A joint filing from the suit reads: “Defendant is enjoined from knowingly or purposefully accessing any unreleased recordings, unreleased performances, unreleased videos, or any other unreleased content created by, believed to have been created by, or otherwise associated with plaintiffs in any form. Defendant is enjoined further accessing any of the recordings that are the subject of this litigation and which defendant has affirmatively declared are no longer in his possession.”

Ballerini sued Ewing in April, alleging that he shared unreleased music with other fans after acquiring the materials by hacking her using “back-door access” to an unfinished song. Shortly after the suit was filed, Ewing agreed to comply with the courts in identifying who he shared the illegal files with. The names of the other people who may have contributed to Bellerini’s music being leaked have not been disclosed. At the moment, no legal action has been taken against them.

“The most critical time for an album’s success is its initial release date,” Ballerini’s attorneys wrote in a motion when requesting a preliminary injunction. “Hacks like this substantially diminish both performers’ and labels’ ability to realize the full benefits of the release because the work is already available for download, for free, at the time of the official release.”

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Ballerini’s most recent full-length release, her fourth album, Subject to Change, was released in September 2022. Since then, the musician has shared the EP Rolling Up the Welcome Mat (For Good) and appeared alongside Little Big Town on the single “Shut Up Train.”

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