Ellie Goulding claims in a new lawsuit that her former managers, Ben Mawson and Ed Millet of TaP Management, never told her about Live Nation’s controlling stake in their firm.
The “Lights” singer initiated legal claims for breach of fiduciary duty in the U.K. on July 24, according to court records reviewed by Billboard. She’s suing both Mawson and Millet, who co-founded TaP in 2010, as well as the management firm’s parent company, HNOE Limited.
Goulding signed to TaP in 2018 and remained there through 2025. According to Variety and Rolling Stone, which both obtained copies of the singer’s lawsuit, Goulding is alleging that Mawson and Millet pushed her during this period to do business with Live Nation for touring, merch and a documentary film.
The problem, Goulding reportedly alleges, is that nobody ever disclosed to her that Live Nation had purchased a controlling stake in HNOE in 2015 — or that Live Nation then bought out the rest of the company in 2019. Unbeknownst to Goulding at the time, the ownership arrangement allegedly subjected Mawson and Millet to contractual obligations that barred them from steering artists under their management away from doing deals with Live Nation.
According to Goulding, this meant that Mawson and Millet did not prioritize finding the best deals for her as a client.
“The defendants had a personal interest or duty in dealings between Ms. Goulding and companies in the Live Nation group, which was in actual or potential conflict with the interests of Ms. Goulding in securing the best commercial terms with whichever promoter, merchandiser or other counterparty it was most advantageous for her to deal with,” reads the lawsuit, per Variety.
Goulding is seeking unspecified financial damages in the lawsuit. Reps for Goulding and TaP did not immediately return requests for comment on Monday (Aug. 17).
Live Nation, which is neither named as a defendant nor accused of any wrongdoing, declined to comment on the case.
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