Grammy-winning producer Jermaine Dupri has filed a blistering lawsuit against Sony Music Entertainment (SME), accusing the company of underpaying and concealing royalties tied to his work with artists including Mariah Carey, Usher, Kris Kross, Xscape,
Bow Wow, and Da Brat.
The Atlanta-based producer and songwriter, known for shaping the sound of Nineties hip-hop and R&B, claims Sony Music “knew that it was violating” contracts with him and his influential label, So So Def, but “never attempted to disclose its contemptuous accounting practices.” Dupri’s lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, is seeking at least $18 million in damages.
“Given the systemic pattern of underreporting royalties, failure of reporting royalites, and altering and/or updating statements to report previously earned royalties, [Sony Music Entertainment] has engaged in willful deceitful actions designed to harm plaintiffs in their business,” the new 13-page lawsuit obtained by Rolling Stone reads.
In the case of Kris Kross, Dupri claims Sony hid royalties owed on Kris Kross’ catalog for more than two decades. According to the complaint, Sony kept those funds in “a separate royalty accounting system unknown to plaintiffs.”
Dupri alleges Sony also knowingly concealed additional money owed from Jagged Edge’s 1997 album, The Jagged Era, and altered royalty statements dating back several years. He and his lawyer, Chris Brown, list at least seven contracts between the producer and Sony Music entities covering more than 25 years. They claim an accounting audit conducted last year uncovered millions owed to Dupri and his companies, So So Def Recordings and So So Def Productions.
Reps for Sony Music did not immediately return Rolling Stone‘s request for comment. Dupri’s lawyer said he had no comment when reached by email Tuesday.
In the lawsuit, Dupri is described as a “mastermind” of the Southern hip-hop and R&B sound. It notes Dupri was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018, and that he won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song in 2006 for the track “We Belong Together,” which he co-wrote with Mariah Carey and Johntá Austin. The lawsuit links to the song’s Spotify stream count, which listed more than 942,000,000 streams as of Tuesday.
“Dupri is a musical icon whose recordings on So-So Def and production with other artists have produced over $200,000,000 in gross revenue in the music industry,” the lawsuit states. While the complaint is asking for at least $18 million in damages, Dupri is not stopping there.
“Given that the matter of unreported producer royalties is not an isolated issue, evident by the above, it is likely that SME did not report producer royalties to plaintiffs for producer services rendered in connection with other artists associated with the So-So Def/SME deals,” the lawsuit reads. “Additional royalties due to plaintiffs have yet to be determined.”
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