Maverick City Music Co-Founder Can’t Release New Music During Lawsuit

Maverick City Music has won a court order halting a competing Christian music project launched by its estranged co-founder — at least for now.   

A New York judge granted Maverick City’s request for a preliminary injunction on Wednesday (April 29) against Tony Brown, who sold his shares of the Grammy-winning worship collective to current CEO Norman Gyamfi for $5 million in 2023. A bitter legal battle is now waging over the terms of that buy-out deal, with Maverick City’s Gyamfi alleging Brown violated a non-compete provision by launching another Christian music group called God Aura after his departure.

Brown alleges the non-compete is void, along with the rest of his buy-out agreement, because Maverick City has underpaid him by roughly $2 million. Judge Nancy M. Bannon ruled Wednesday that whether the contract holds up remains an open question that will depend on the evidence — and that until a fulsome decision is reached, Brown cannot release any new music.

Among other things, the injunction requires Brown to pull God Aura’s December 2025 album Wonderful Child down from streaming services. The lawsuit now moves into the discovery phase, meaning Maverick City and Brown will exchange evidence with each other.

A lawyer for Maverick City, Steven Cooper of Reed Smith, said in a Friday (May 1) statement to Billboard that his clients “are very pleased that the court shut down Anthony Brown’s improper competitive activities.”

“Mr. Brown tried repeatedly to avoid this hearing, and ultimately his attempts failed, and his bad acts were exposed,” added Cooper. “Mr. Gyamfi and his companies will continue to aggressively pursue those who violate contracts and engage in wrongdoing against them.”

Attorneys for Brown declined to comment on the injunction.

Brown co-founded Maverick City in 2018 alongside Jonathan Jay. The Atlanta-based music collective has won five Grammy Awards and topped Billboard‘s Christian and gospel charts with members and collaborators including Chandler Moore, Naomi Raine and Brandon Lake.

Gyamfi joined Maverick City as a part-owner and executive around 2021 and helped grow Maverick City’s Christian music empire. He eventually bought out Brown, but Brown alleges Gyamfi failed to complete the promised payments based on unsubstantiated sexual harassment complaints against him.

Brown initially sued Maverick City in Georgia, but the dispute was kicked to New York in February due to a forum selection clause in the buyout deal. In that decision, an Atlanta judge rejected Brown’s claim that he was coerced into signing the contract due to threats from Louis Burrell, a music industry veteran and the brother of MC Hammer.

Meanwhile, Maverick City is also dealing with separate litigation tied to Moore’s abrupt departure from the group last month. Moore is alleging that Gyamfi stole his royalties, but the group denies this and says Moore failed to fulfill his contract before exiting.

Just like in the Brown lawsuit, Maverick City tried to get an injunction to stop Moore from pursuing a solo career while the dispute plays out. But the group was unsuccessful in that attempt, and Moore is now releasing music on his own.