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Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Cash Money Sued Over Missing Drake Profits
Photo source: Instagram
Aspire Music Group has sued Cash Money Records over alleged missing profits and copyright royalties from Drake‘s first six solo albums, according to court documents reviewed by Billboard. The earnings could end up totaling in the tens of millions.
The suit cites Cash Money co-owners Bryan “Birdman” Williams and Ronald “Slim” Williams, and Young Money Entertainment, as defendants.
Billboard writes: “In the filing, Aspire claims that in 2008, it signed an exclusive recording agreement with Drake, then entered into an agreement in June 2009 with Cash Money Records that would allow Drake to record for the label in exchange for one-third of the net profits of his first six albums and one third of the copyrights of his master recordings for those same albums, as well as monthly accounting and payments.”
However, Aspire alleges that Cash Money never paid out any profits outside of “a few modest advances” and that Aspire was never registered with a one-third ownership stake on any recordings.
The court documents specify the albums as 2009’s So Far Gone, 2010’s Thank Me Later, 2011’s Take Care, 2013’s Nothing Was the Same, 2015’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, and 2016’s Views.
The court documents also reveal Cash Money’s alleged fraudulent accounting.
According to Billboard, “Cash Money sent copies of its payments from distributor Universal and included deductions for recording, marketing and production costs, as well as artist royalties and advances, that had already been deducted from Universal’s payments — effectively making them double deductions. The result was accounting that showed no payments due to Aspire.”
Aspire is not suing for a specific amount of money. Instead, the company is asking the court to supervise an audit of Cash Money’s books to determine the amount due.
Related: Ed Sheeran Sued For Allegedly Copying Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’
