Genre Various Founder Don Lichterman | Official website [1] Founded 2009 | |
Distributor(s) Sunset Corporation of America | ||
Sunset Urban began by picking up the Gina Thompson, Missing You EP CD (with Blue Mountain) in early 2009, and had since brought the first single to being #1 at Musica Urbana (Music Choice) and in the top 25 at major FM Radio (WZZA). Sunset Urban is a subsidiary of the Sunset Distribution Company. Headed by Chairman and Founder Don Lichterman, Sunset Urban has distribution deals with Bomb Baby (e(dot) Milz, Pre Daily), Blachawk / Capella (JL, Raynita J, and Taya Jae'), and Blue Mountain (Gina Thompson), the label continues to release an array of colorful hiphop music, hardcore rap music, Dance, R&B and soundtrack CDs. Artists include such multiplatinum-sellers as Gina Thompson, Kapital A,60 Wrap$$ and also include Mista (Latex), Tony Zapata and Stryk (#1 at MTVs Our Stage in Jan 2012). Sunset is one of the leading independent record labels, music publishing companies, Book, DVD Distribution and entertainment companies in the world.Sunset's Distributed Entertainment Companies, and its global operation, acquire, develop, and distribute major music recording artists, home visual entertainment products, online-digital entertainment technologies and music and filmed entertainment worldwide. With Sunset's Distribution Services and its group of distributed companies at Sunset, there are spots for all artists and all labels to have the ability to gain worldwide global distribution. Sunset Distribution Company and its distributed labels are all S2 Entertainment (S2e) Companies. Artists include such multiplatinum-sellers as Gina Thompson and also including Mista (Latex) (Two (2) Top 40songs and One (1) Top 10 song at Our Stage (MTV)), Mac Dividinz (Three (3) Top 40 Songs and One (1) Top 10 Song in Rap at Our Stage (MTV)), Tony Zapata, and Stryk (#1 song at MTVs Our Stage in Jan 2012; Four (4) Top 40 Songs at Our Stage (MTV)).
Controversy
All controversial information about this label could be found on this blog, including information from ex-artists of Sunset.
The above Blog Controversy culminated in a criminal prosecution of Don Lichterman that led to his arrest, prosecution, and sentencing for forgery of a signature of a court judge in September - October, 2014 and for theft of identity of a lawyer in September, 2012- October, 2014.
According to a complaint filed by the FBI on December 5, 2014, the Blog Artists filed a civil complaint on May 5, 2014 against Lichterman for copyright infringement. Lichterman countered on May 14, 2014 with a civil lawsuit that alleged that the blog artists had defamed him. After Licherman's defamation suit was dismissed on August 5, 2014, Lichterman immediately filed 29 separate motions for reconsideration of the court's order.
On September 3, 2014, an email was sent to the Blog company bearing a subject "Court Order" and containing the purported order of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The order directed the Blog Company to delete certain posts regarding Lichterman from its log. On September 10 and September 15, the Blog Cormpany received further warning emails bearing the email address of an attorney named in the FBI Complaint as Lawyer-1.
The Blog Company received a final email on October 9, 2014. On October 9, 2014, the Blog Company also received a Federal Express package containing, among other things, a Court Order to cease and desist the posting of defamatory material
The FBI complaint against Don Lichterman affirmed that the District Court did not issue any such decree and that Lawyer-1 did not represent Lichterman, view the "Order", nor send any such emails attributed to her. The FBI then traced the offending emails to an IP address controlled by Don Lichterman.
Don Lichterman was arrested on December 22, 2014 and indicted on May 19, 2015. Lichterman pled guilty and was sentenced on February 11, 2016 to home confinement of ten months. During this time, he agreed to remain principally in his domicile (except to work), submit to location monitoring, and participate in a needed mental health program. Lichterman was also sentenced to Supervised Release for a total of three years where he was disallowed from moving beyond the judicial district.
The Full Complaint and Litigation Docket of the Criminal Case of USA v. Don Lichterman (S.D.N.Y. 1:15-cr-00302-JGK) can be found online.