Has the music industry responded to sexual misconduct allegations against R.Kelly aptly?

Ever since the release of the documentary, 'Surviving R.Kelly' the singer has been receiving several blows from his peers and recording companies.

One of the most shocking information that the documentary revealed in the film was, R. Kelly had flown an underage cross-country for sexual purposes. Azriel, the woman who was 17, then, was flown from Palm Springs to Phoenix to Orlando on May 25, 2015.

If Kelly gets proven guilty of the misdemeanour, he will have violated the Mann act - a federal act that makes it illegal to transport a minor across state lines for purpose of sex, debauchery or prostitution.

Of course R. Kelly's lawyer, Steve Greenberg is denying all the allegations. He said, " Mr Kelly has not violated the law. Certainly not the Mann Act. The story has flawed factual predicates. Beyond that, we remain unaware of any investigation, anywhere."

Though there is a note from Azriel's parents that gives permission for her to travel, the note is not dated for May, but for a trip that the girl had made later that year.

When all these allegations surfaced, Sony Music and it's subsidiary RCA records decided to cancel all deals that the company had made with the former basketball player. In addition to cancelling the deals, the recording company also vowed to never release any music from the accused R&B singer, as was reported in the Billboard and Variety.

Apart from the recording company, many artists have also decided to detach themselves from any collaborations that they have had with the singer in the past. Among them, we have Lady Gaga, Chance the Rapper and Phoenix. They all have gone on to publicly apologise for working with Kelly.

So, how are these responses from the music industry playing out?

Unlike the Hollywood industry, the music industry's boat has not been rocked that much. But, it has certainly made the executives in the recording company think about how to handle new media attention and online activism when it affects the artists on their roster.

"Everybody's going to have to look at certain allegations against people they worked with and signed and feel a new type of moral obligation," said an insider source to Billboards.

But the problem lies somewhere else, as was put by one entertainment lawyer to Billboards, "The music industry has a high pain threshold for bad behaviour." Which is true, most big acts like Led Zeppelin, Dr Dre, Jim Morrison to Michael Jackson, they all had controversies that wreaked throughout their careers. And if you want to accept it or not, those stories contributed significantly to their rise in popularity.

"You tolerate bad behaviour because some of it brings a lot of attention to the brands," says the lawyer. "And labels are not going to do anything until they have to."

And as for the debate on what will be dropped from streaming services and what will not is another issue altogether. As, Mick Management's Heather Kolker puts it, "If somebody is coming to me saying, 'I don't really like this song anymore, I want to take it down,' if it's an image thing, if it doesn't represent you anymore, well, that's art, and that's part of the journey," but, "The other conversation is like [what] Gaga did, when it is connected to a controversy. … I get it, and I fully support what Gaga did."

So does this mean the music industry has ended R. Kelly's career?

Well, kind of yes -- if not totally but definitely to a certain degree. By disassociating from the singer and cancelling his deal, despite having two more albums to be produced by them, at least Kelly's label deal has definitely ended.

Shaunna Thomas, who is the co-founder of Ultraviolet, under whom the documentary was successfully released, says, "If this costs people money, that's a victory for survivors, because it means that going forward -- in theory, at least -- producers, writers and artists should be very wary about doing business with people like R. Kelly."

But, the takeaway from this huge incident will definitely make record labels to do a thorough check up on the next artist they sign to their roster.