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Bad Bunny label hits back at uncleared sample allegations from Nigerian label

By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 10 February 2023

A quick sample dispute to end the week with now, though one that is currently being fought via press release and social media posts rather than litigation.

Bad Bunny and his label Rimas Entertainment are accused of sampling and interpolating without licence a track by Nigerian Afrobeats artist Joeboy on ‘Enséñame A Bailar’, which appears on 2022 Bad Bunny album ‘Un Verano Sin Ti’.

It’s fellow Afrobeats artist Mr Eazi – in his guise as founder of Joeboy’s label emPawa Africa – who has been hitting out about the allegedly infringing sample and interpolation in various social media posts this week.

“The team at emPawa Africa have attempted to sort this issue amicably since May of last year with our mutual legal teams”, Mr Eazi – real name Oluwatosin Ajibade – then said in a press release. “But the intent of Rimas Music is clearly to blatantly appropriate young African creators’ work for their gain without attribution”.

“Afrobeats has become a global phenomenon and everybody wants to sample a piece of it”, he went on. “Unfortunately, Afrobeats artists, their producers and labels often have to pursue legal means to secure publishing and royalties after songs they originally created are co-opted without credit by other artists”.

But Bad Bunny has not been bad at all here, Rimas Entertainment was very keen to stress in its own response press release. “We are deeply concerned by the copyright infringement accusations made by Oluwatosin Ajibade, the founder of emPawa Africa, on the track ‘Enséñame A Bailar'”, said press release read.

“We want to make it clear that, at all times, Rimas Entertainment has acted properly and has followed standard industry protocols”, it went on. “Before releasing the aforementioned song, Rimas purchased the master track [which has been sampled] from record producer Lakizo Entertainment, listed as the track’s creator and owner in numerous public sources”.

“After the song’s release last year, emPawa contacted us, claiming ownership over the master”, it then added. “Our lawyers have had many communications with emPawa in an effort to resolve the ownership dispute between emPawa and Lakizo, but emPawa has so far failed to provide proof of ownership. Instead, emPawa has chosen only to send us a heavily redacted contract that did not confirm their claims and only served to raise more questions about the validity of their claims”.

“Our numerous efforts to obtain the unredacted version of the agreement from emPawa have not been successful”, it went on. “It is entirely untrue that we have been unresponsive. Regarding the song’s composition, emPawa has also failed to forward documents to prove that they are authorised to act on the writer’s behalf. We look forward to resolving this matter cordially and are waiting for emPawa to provide us with the necessary documents that validate their claims”.

So there you go. Fun times. Although it seems no formal legal action has been instigated as yet in relation to any of this, the publishing side of emPawa Africa and its administration partner Kobalt have reportedly filed a dispute over the Bad Bunny track within the collective licensing system, which will stop the flow of royalties on ‘Enséñame A Bailar’ until the matter has been resolved.