R. Kelly's managed to escape repercussions for the alleged sex crimes he's been accused of. However, Surviving R. Kelly has put the spotlight back on these allegations. Many of his collaborators have distanced themselves from him including Lady Gaga, Chance The Rapper and Celine Dion. However, many have been pressing Sony music to drop the singer from the label and it looks like they've folded.
Sony Music has reportedly decided to part ways with R. Kelly, according to Variety. A source said there isn't any plans of any announcements being made in the near future. Kelly is still listed on the website, but the source said that there won't be any indications about his departure from the label. His back catalog will still belong to RCA and their parent company, Sony Music.
Since the docuseries aired, protests have been staged at Sony's New York headquarters. At Sony Music's L.A. office, a plane was hired by UltraViolet to fly above the office with a sign that read, "RCA/Sony: Drop Sexual Predator R. Kelly."
RCA's stood by Kelly throughout all of the allegations. According to sources, it's because he was never convicted of any crimes. However, entertainment lawyer Leslie Frank said that major-label contracts have provisions that state if an artist is "convicted of a felony or a crime of moral turpitude, generally speaking it is the label’s right to terminate the contract." However, Kellz has yet to be found guilty of any of the allegations against him.
“Any record company — or, really, any party to any contract — can decide they no longer want to be in the contract,” Frank continued. “The question is what can happen as a result of them asserting their desire to terminate the term of the agreement. R. Kelly could sue for damages. If R. Kelly does not want to terminate the agreement and instigates a dispute saying that it’s a breach of contract by RCA, if RCA is concerned about the cost of litigation and how a court might decide, they could try to come to a settlement with R. Kelly.