Ellie Goulding sues ex-management company over undisclosed Live Nation ties

Ellie Goulding is suing her former UK management company, TaP Management, alleging a years-long conflict of interest tied to the firm's undisclosed ownership by Live Nation. The claim, filed in the UK on July 24 and first reported by Variety, names TaP co-founders Ben Mawson and Ed Millett, along with TaP's parent company, HNOE Ltd, as defendants; Live Nation itself is not named.

Live Nation bought a 50.1 percent stake in HNOE in 2015 and acquired the rest of the company in 2019, according to the claim, which alleges Goulding was never told her management company was owned by the world's largest concert promoter while she was a client there from 2018 to 2025. During that period, she entered into agreements with Live Nation companies covering touring, merchandise and a documentary film, arrangements the suit says created a conflict "in actual or potential conflict with the interests of Ms. Goulding in securing the best commercial terms."

Mawson was named HNOE's chief executive after the full buyout, and both he and Millett report to an individual designated by Live Nation's own CEO, according to Music Business Worldwide's review of UK corporate filings. Goulding signed with TaP in 2018 after leaving Sarah Stennett's Turn First Artists, joining a roster that at the time also included Lana Del Rey and Dua Lipa. She has since returned to Stennett for management and signed with WME for worldwide representation.

Goulding stayed with TaP through three pop albums, including 2015's Delirium, which reached Number Three on both the UK and US charts behind the single "On My Mind," followed by Brightest Blue in 2020 and Higher Than Heaven in 2023. The dispute is not the first involving HNOE: Angus and Julia Stone sued the company and a former TaP Australia executive over commission payments, a case HNOE largely won on appeal in November 2024 when a New South Wales court ruled the dispute belonged in a London court instead.

Goulding is seeking unspecified compensation and damages. She is currently preparing to release her sixth studio album, I Know Too Much, due September 4, and the lawsuit lands just weeks after MusicSuey covered her new single "Ravers", part of the run-up to that record. Neither TaP nor Live Nation has commented publicly on the claim.