Leakers Beware: All the Music Stars Who Cracked Down, From BTS to Madonna to Ariana Grande

Artists hate when their unreleased music gets leaked. Over the years, many of them have hired lawyers and fought back. Ariana Grande attends the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards in Elmont, New York. Mike Coppola/Getty Images for MTV When Ariana Grande took legal action this week over leaks of her unreleased music, she was hardly the first star to do so. BTS, Madonna, Megan Thee Stallion and Ye (the artist formerly known as Kanye West) have all lawyered up over a problem that drives artists nuts. Grande’s lawsuit claims that unnamed “John Doe” hackers have repeatedly stolen and leaked her songs, photos and videos. She says she’s faced hundreds of such hacks since 2011, often targeting her producers or photographers to gain backdoor access to her private content. “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,” her lawyers write, calling the hacks “unlawful and egregious.” Related Leaks of private information are an unfortunate fact of life in the modern world. But leaks of unreleased songs strike a particular nerve with musicians, who view it as a violation not just of their privacy, but of the vulnerable process of creating new art. And unlike many Americans, pop stars have the money to hire lawyers to go do something about it. In her case, Grande says it harmed the “sacred relationship” she has with fans. When Kelsea Ballerini sued in 2024, she said only she “can say when the recordings are complete” and that a leaker had “stripped [her] of that right.” Madonna went even further, calling the leak of a 2015 album “a form of terrorism” that “destroys the artistic process.” “No one likes having their personal information or work product hacked and leaked to the public, and that’s especially true for recording artists and songwriters,” says Tal Dickstein, a veteran music attorney at the law firm Loeb & Loeb who represents stars in court. “[Artists] invest enormous amounts of time, money and creative energy curating their public images and planning exactly how and when their works reach the public.” Whether legal action is effective is a complicated question. After all, it’s largely impossible to unleak songs: “There’s usually no way to put the genie back in the bottle,” Dickstein says. It’s also often difficult to locate the hackers, much less extract any sort of monetary judgment from them. Seeking criminal charges can carry more weight, though there’s no guarantee authorities can or will do much either. But nabbing the actual perpetrators of a specific leak is only part of the reason stars hire lawyers to fight back. The real goal is often broader and more forward-looking: “Filing legal claims,” Dickstein says, “can send a clear message that deters would-be hackers from engaging in this kind of unlawful activity.” As Grande’s case moves ahead, here’s a list of all the music stars who have taken legal action in recent years after their music was leaked on the internet. Guns N’ Roses ‘Chinese Democracy’ Leaker Arrested Kevin Cogill broke the internet in June 2008 when he posted nine leaked songs from Chinese Democracy, the long, long, long-awaited sixth studio album from Guns N’ Roses. After he got a complaint from the band’s lawyers, he quickly removed the tracks — but his legal troubles were far from over. Two months later, he was arrested on felony charges of violating a newly-enacted federal anti-piracy law that made it a crime to share copyrighted works ahead of their commercial release. After Cogill was arrested, the band vowed further retribution against the “original source” of the leak. Slash, the band’s famed former guitarist, added: “I hope he rots in jail.” Cogill eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count and was sentenced to two months of home confinement, one year of probation and required to film an anti-piracy PSA. No charges were ever filed against whoever originally leaked the songs. “I never intended to hurt the artist,” Cogill said in court. “I intended to promote the artist because I’m a fan.” ‘Deeply Devastating’: Madonna Gets Revenge When unreleased Madonna songs leaked online in December 2014, months ahead of the planned release of her album Rebel Heart, she called them “unfinished demos” and urged fans not to listen to them: “I have been violated as a human and an artist.” In an interview with Billboard weeks later, the superstar said she had suffered sleepless nights and was “trying to figure out where the leaks were coming from.” She eventually figured it out — with the help of both her lawyers, international criminal investigators and her fans. In January 2015, Israeli authorities arrested Adi Lederman, a former contestant on Israel’s top TV song competition show, on charges that he had stolen and leaked the Rebel Heart songs. He eventually pleaded guilty to the hack and was sentenced to 14 months in prison. “I am profoundly grateful to the FBI, the Israeli Police investigators and anyone else who helped lead to the arrest of this hacker,” the star said at the time, adding that fans had “provided us with pertinent information” that led to the arrest. “This invasion into my life — creatively, professionally, and personally remains a deeply devastating and hurtful experience.” Megan Thee Stallion Blames Leak on Label Two years in a nasty court battle with her record label 1501 Certified Entertainment, Megan Thee Stallion (Megan Pete) strongly suggested that the company had intentionally leaked her 2022 album Traumazine. In an updated version of the case, the star’s lawyers argued that the leak — coming amid her bitter split with the company and resulting litigation — “occurred within only a few days after” she sent it to the label and was quickly followed by “two subsequent leaks.” “As a result, Pete has been forced to hire forensic investigators to try to determine the source of the leaks,” Stallion’s attorneys wrote at the time. “Pete requested 1501’s assistance with those efforts but, to date, 1501 has not taken any action to help investigate. Under those circumstances, Pete had no choice but to release Traumazine early.” Megan later asked the judge to force Warner Music Group to hand over records to help her find the leaker, arguing in court that the music giant was “one of the few companies” that had received early access to the album. “Pete does not, at this time, accuse WMG of intentionally releasing her album, but does believe that receiving documents and communications from WMG related to Traumazine and its release should help discover who improperly leaked her artistic work,” her lawyers wrote. The case settled in 2023 with a deal that would see the two sides “amicably part ways” — and no leaker was ever publicly identified. Ye Says Instagram Leaker Stole His Trade Secrets Attorneys for Ye (formerly Kanye West) went HAM in 2023, filing a lawsuit against the unnamed owner of an Instagram account called @DaUnreleasedGod that he claimed had been leaking his music. In a case filed in Los Angeles court, the star claimed that the account had leaked numerous songs on social media, including including “We Did it Kid,” “Shy Can’t Look,” “NASDAQ” and “Mr. Miyagi,” as well as collabs with artists like DJ Khaled and unauthorized video footage of a Donda listening party. Ye’s lawyers took an unusual legal approach to those claims, arguing that the leaker had stolen his trade secrets when they took the songs — a type of legal allegation more often used to protect proprietary business information. They also argued the account had violated a confidentiality agreement that they were required to sign before gaining access to the tracks. Like many such cases, Ye’s lawsuit claimed it didn’t know who was behind the account, but would use the litigation process to figure it out. “The unauthorized leaks and distribution of the compositions have caused substantial harm to Ye’s creative work, reputation, and potential income.” The case settled in 2024 on confidential terms. Kelsea Ballerini Sues a Fan-Turned-Foe Kelsea Ballerini went to court in 2024 over accusations that her unfinished album had been leaked by a man named Bo Ewing — allegedly an ex-superfan who had become disillusioned with the singer. Ballerini’s lawyers claimed that Ewing had gained illegal “back-door access” to a device holding recordings of 12 songs still in production, then shared them with members of an online fan club. They said the songs had not been final and were still “subject to revision.” “Ms. Ballerini and her team are the only people who can say when the recordings are complete,” her attorneys wrote at the time. “Defendant’s actions have stripped plaintiffs of that right.” Days after the case was filed, Ewing capitulated — agreeing to an injunction that banned him from further disseminating Ballerini songs and required him to divulge who he has already shared them with and how he came into possession of her music. The case was then quickly dropped, without disclosure of any other people responsible for the leak. BTS Album Leak Sparks Unmasking Lawsuit HYBE launched legal proceedings in April 2026 to unmask an anonymous X user who allegedly leaked songs, lyrics and artwork from ARIRANG before the release of the chart-topping comeback album. BigHit Music, the HYBE unit that’s home to BTS, asked a federal judge to issue a subpoena requiring X (formerly Twitter) to disclose the user’s identity. BigHit said it would then use that information to bring a civil lawsuit against the user in South Korea. “The leak of BTS’s album destroyed the element of surprise that applicant was building up toward its release, negatively impacting its reputation and sales,” the company’s lawyers wrote in the filing. The case quickly ended in a confidential settlement; it’s unclear if X handed over the personal information for the user. Ariana Grande Goes After Hackers When Ariana Grande sued unnamed hackers over leaks in July 2026, it was because she had finally had enough. The popstar’s lawyers said she had faced “hundreds” of such leaks since 2011, including a 2019 theft of “still-in-production, unreleased masters and demos and footage,” as well as two attacks in 2024 that saw unreleased photos of the star stolen in phishing scams. She claimed 45 of her songs had been leaked in 2023 alone. “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,” her lawyers wrote. “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.” Daily newsletters straight to your inbox Sign Up More From Pro