Legal

Wednesday 19 April 2017

Cash Money Sued Over Missing Drake Profits

Drake
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’

| Music Industry
Cash Money, Drake, Legal,
Monday 12 December 2016

DJ Mixes Are Now Legal on SoundCloud, Says Founder

SoundCloud

SoundCloud
Image source: Instagram

SoundCloud founder Eric Wahlforss has said in an interview that DJ mixes are now legal and “problem-free” on the service.

Wahlforss told Germany’s Groove magazine:

“During the negotiations for SoundCloud Go, we achieved agreement with collecting societies like GEMA in Germany, making these problems a thing of the past -– even for users who do not subscribe. This means that DJ mixes are now legal and problem-free on SoundCloud. So this is a very positive news for DJs.”

SoundCloud was once the go-to platform to host DJ mixes, but many DJs have stopped uploading their mixes in recent years because of increased takedowns for copyright infringement. Some have even had their accounts deleted for repeat violations.

As a result, many DJs have been uploading their mixes to less popular services like Mixcloud and Mixcrate. However, those platforms have been subject to increased takedowns over the last year, with Mixcrate closing its doors in October.

While Wahlforss’ comments are encouraging to DJs and fans, it is unclear at this point if all mixes are indeed safe on SoundCloud.

Related: DJs Should Stop Playing SoundCloud and YouTube Rips

| Music Industry, Music Tech
Legal, SoundCloud,

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