Music Managers Accused of Poaching Artists

LOS ANGELES (CN) - A management company claims in court that two former employees conspired to steal indie band Good Old War and pop singer Christina Perri from its roster of clients.

Bill Silva Management sued Thomas Gates and Ryan Chisholm in Superior Court alleging intentional interference with contract and unfair competition. It seeks $50,000 in damages.

According to the complaint, Bill Silva signed Perri, 26, a Philadelphia singer-songwriter in the summer of 2010.

Less than a year later, Silva signed up Good Old War, whose members are Keith Goodwin, Daniel Schwartz and Tim Arnold, also of Philadelphia.

Silva claims it employed Gates and Chisholm as Perri and Good Old War's managers, until the two men resigned in November 2012.

Gates and Chisholm are the only defendants.

"Unbeknownst to plaintiff, prior to defendants' resignation, defendants had actively conspired to steal Perri and GOW [Good Old War] as clients from plaintiff, including that defendants secretly conspired with Perri to help her draft a letter from her to plaintiff in which she informed plaintiff that she had decided to engage defendants as her managers rather than plaintiff. Defendants also undertook similar efforts to steal GOW as a client away from plaintiff to work with defendants," according to the 4-page complaint.

Perri and Good Old War then kicked Bill Silva to the curb, breaching management agreements before the contracts expired, the complaint states.

Perri's songs were featured on several TV shows, including "So You Think You Can Dance" and "Glee." She also recorded a song for the "Twilight" movie "Breaking Dawn."

Good Old War has released three albums and two EPs since 2008.

Silva is represented by Howard King, with King Holmes Paterno and Berliner.

The defendants, whose publicly available email addresses stem from their time with Silva, could not be reached for comment after business hours Tuesday.

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