D4vd Quietly Dropped by Interscope/UMG; Profile Scrubbed

Photo Credit: Spotify / Digital Music News

Musician D4vd has been quietly dropped by his label Interscope, with affiliations scrubbed from their websites and on streaming platforms, amid his murder arrest.

Singer-songwriter D4vd has been dropped by Interscope/UMG amid his arrest on suspicion of the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the 14-year-old girl whose body was found in his Tesla last year. According to scans by DMN, label affiliations have been scrubbed from the companies’ websites and from the artist’s songs on streaming platforms.

The “Romantic Homicide” singer was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department on Thursday, April 16, but a source with knowledge of the matter said that D4vd was actually dropped by Darkroom/Interscope last year. Authorities found the dismembered body of Rivas Hernandez in September in the trunk of an impounded Tesla registered to the singer, though it’s not clear exactly when the labels ceased their affiliation with him.

Some Redditors have speculated that D4vd actually regained his masters after the labels dropped him, but this has not been confirmed. One commenter joked, “Now we know the only way to get out of a label contract is to murder someone.”

“Honestly, nothing is that simple with record labels,” another Redditor pointed out. “There’s most likely a licensing arrangement where his LLC distributes his music and still owes Interscope their backend share. Unless his estate paid for his masters outright from Interscope, I don’t see him regaining his masters simply because they dropped him.”

“Yeah, but usually the copyright under the album is who owns the master recording,” wrote the original poster. “For years it was Darkroom/Interscope; they changed it to just solely to him.”

D4vd, whose real name is David Burke, has been held without bail at a Los Angeles jail, with a laundry list of charges—including first-degree murder—announced by the District Attorney’s office on Monday. Other charges include lying in wait, murder committed for financial gain, murder of a witness to an investigation, lewd and lascivious sexual acts with a minor, and mutilation of a human body.

Burke has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Another hearing is scheduled for Thursday, April 23.