Jermaine Dupri Sues Sony Music Over Unpaid Royalties

Jermaine Dupri filed a lawsuit this week against Sony Music Entertainment, claiming that the company owes him millions in unpaid royalties. According to Jermaine Dupri, Sony Music owes him over $18 million in royalties connected to Mariah Carey, Usher, and other artists.

Billboard was the first to report on the filing, which was made by Jermaine Dupri on July 7, naming the producer’s So-So Def Recordings in the claim and calling into question Sony’s accounting practices and the transparency of how business was conducted.

“So-So Def had a 32-year contractual and business relationship with SME (Sony Music Entertainment),” Dupri’s lawyers wrote in the filing. “As it turns out, many of SME’s dealings with So-So Def have not been lawful and have harmed So-So Def in its business.”

Beyond the aforementioned Mariah Carey and Usher royalties, Dupri added that music released by Xscape, Kriss Ross, Da Brat, Bow Wow, Bone Crusher, and J-Kwon also reflect unpaid royalties. Dupri, who also released music, says some of his tracks are also missing payments.

Dupri’s So-So Def Recordings entered into a partnership with Sony Music Entertainment in 1993, lasting through 2002. In that time, Dupri’s artists notched several hits, including two platinum albums from Xscape. Pushing back via the filing, Dupri’s legal team says that Sony’s claim that Xscape had unrecouped advance payments is false.

“It is unfathomable that Xscape’s royalties were insufficient to recoup the entirety of Xscape’s advances on [their early albums] — both albums were certified platinum by the RIAA — let alone to leave such a staggering unrecouped balance 25-30 years later,” the filing added.

A reply from Sony Music Entertainment has yet to be released.

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Photo: Getty

Jermaine Dupri Sues Sony Music Entertainment Over Unpaid Royalties was originally published on hiphopwired.com