Country artist Shaboozey has sued Warner Chappell accusing the music publisher of blocking his attempts to fast-track his exit from an administration deal with the company by refusing to tell him how much of his advances remain unrecouped.
By failing to provide him with that information, he says, Warner Chappell is hindering his efforts to buy himself out of the deal. However, it seems that the dispute is really with his former label Kreshendo Entertainment, which has filed its own lawsuit.
Having co-written two tracks on Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ album, it’s no surprise that Shaboozey - real name Collins Chibueze - is looking to negotiate a new deal around his song rights. His own most recent track ‘A Bar Song (Tipsy)’ has also been a global success, racking up more than 654 million plays on Spotify, another 105 million on YouTube, as well as tens of millions of views driven by use in short form video on TikTok and Instagram, with three quarters of a million clips using the track across those two platforms alone.
According to documents filed with a court in LA, Chibueze’s administration deal with Warner Chappell allows him to terminate the agreement early if he repays 110% of the sum that the publisher advanced, minus anything that has already been recouped.
However, Chibueze’s lawyer told Billboard that the publisher is refusing to clarify how much of the advance has already been recouped so that his client can begin the process of buying himself out of the deal. “To date, Warner has refused to disclose the total amount of the unrecouped balance of prior advances it made”, attorney Todd Bonder says, adding, “Warner’s conduct violates the administration agreement signed between the parties”.
The main issue is that Kreshendo, Chibueze’s label until 2019, is still involved in his publishing. Bonder notes that, “Kreshendo and [others] have instructed Warner not to provide [Chibueze] the total unrecouped balance related to advances made with respect to the compositions or has refused to authorise Warner to provide such information”.
Kreshendo was involved in the release of Chibueze’s first album ‘Lady Wrangler’ in 2018. He ended his deal with the label early in 2019 so that he could instead work with Empire on his subsequent releases.
However, according to TMZ, Kreshendo says that in 2019, as part of its agreement to release Chibueze from his record deal with them, an agreement was made that the label would continue to collect royalties from his recordings and have a stake in his publishing.
Indeed, on the database of US collecting society the MLC, Chibueze’s share of the copyright on the Beyonce songs he co-wrote and on ‘A Bar Song (Tipsy)’ is listed as being administered by Warner Chappell on behalf of Kreshendo. The label claims that Chibueze, prompted by the success of ‘A Bar Song (Tipsy)’, is now trying to cut the company out of its rightful share of his publishing income and, to that end, it is suing the artist for $2 million.
In its lawsuit, Kreshendo accuses Chibueze of pursuing “a strategy of fraud and misrepresentation” in his bid to end the Warner deal early. It also claims that Chibueze hasn’t raised any issues with the terms of his 2019 agreement before, adding “it was only after he recently released the ‘A Bar Song (Tipsy)’, which has become a huge hit, that he has taken sudden issue with the terms he expressly agreed to”.
For his part, Chibueze also accuses Kreshendo of wrongdoing beyond interfering in his publishing. Elsewhere in his lawsuit against Warner and the label, he alleges that Kreshendo released three more of his tracks in 2019, after his record deal had been terminated, without permission.
So, all in all, it’s a complicated bust up. Warner and Kreshendo are yet to comment.