Name conflict

On June 12, 2020, during the George Floyd protests, the pop country music group Lady Antebellum shortened its name to its nickname "Lady A"^[6] in an attempt to blunt the name's association to the Antebellum South, including the glorification of the Civil War and slavery. The next day, it was widely reported that the name had already been in use for more than 20 years by Anita White. The band members publicly admitted ignorance of any prior use, both when they had arbitrarily chosen the first name and again with this one, which White called "pure privilege". As reported by American Songwriter^[4] and Rolling Stone, White described the band's token acknowledgement of racism while blithely appropriating an African American artist's name: "They're using the name because of a Black Lives Matter incident that, for them, is just a moment in time. If it mattered, it would have mattered to them before. It shouldn't have taken George Floyd to die for them to realize that their name had a slave reference to it. It's an opportunity for them to pretend they're not racist". A veteran music industry lawyer observed that such name clashes are uncommon due to the existence of the Internet.^[1][7][4]

The band members contacted White the next week to apologize for inadvertently appropriating her name without any research, saying that the Black Lives Matter movement had inspired them to a collaborative attitude. However, they also expressed their intention to move forward with the Lady A name despite White's concern that simultaneous ownership of the trademark would be detrimental to her career.^[8][9] Initially enthusiastic, forgiving, and hopeful,^[10] she said "We talked about attempting to co-exist but didn't discuss what that would look like"^[9] reportedly because the band members would not directly respond to that explicit question three times during the conversation or in two contract drafts.^[8] Shocked upon receipt of the band's contract draft later that day, she said "Their camp is trying to erase me ... and I no longer trust them".^[11] She soon submitted a counteroffer that either the band would be renamed, or that her act would be renamed for a $5 million fee plus a $5 million donation to be split between Seattle charities, a nationwide legal defense fund for independent artists, and Black Lives Matter.^[12][13]

On July 8, 2020, the band filed a lawsuit against White—rejecting her counteroffer, and affirming the band's right to its own long-standing trademark of the name. The band stated: "Today we are sad to share that our sincere hope to join together with Anita White in unity and common purpose has ended."^[11]

On September 15, 2020, White filed a countersuit asserting her claim to the Lady A trademark under common law and rejecting the notion that both artists could operate in the same industry under the same brand identity. She is seeking damages for lost sales and a weakened brand, along with royalties from any income the band receives under the Lady A moniker.^[14][15]

The effects of this dispute between the two musical acts has also gone beyond just Anita White's solo career. In late October 2021, New Orleans based folk musician Lilli Lewis released her album, "Americana." Prior to the album's release, Lewis had joined an online support group for Black female artists known as "Sista Gurls"—a group of which Lady A (Anita White) is also a member. The two artists connected through this support group and eventually recorded a song together titled "A Healing Inside." This song became the tenth track on Lewis' album with White having been credited under her professional stage name "Lady A." Soon after its release, the album was pulled from Spotify—a prominent music streaming service—due to "Lady A" being credited on the album. While it is unknown whether this was due to Spotify's algorithm flagging the content, believing the artists formerly known as Lady Antebellum were being falsely credited, or if it was taken down due to the legal disputes between the two musical acts, it is clear that the conflict between the artists using the "Lady A" moniker is at its root. The album was later returned to the streaming service on November 15, 2021, a little over two weeks after the album's release and within one week after Lewis became aware of the situation.^[16][17]

In February 2022, Pitchfork reported that White and the band have settled their lawsuit; "the parties filed a joint request for dismissal to a judge in a federal Tennessee court" and the "terms of the settlement have not been disclosed".^[18][19]