Young Thug, the rapper, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, is embroiled in a copyright dispute with entertainment behemoth AEG over the alleged unsolicited sale of his music catalog for $16 million.
According to a report by AllHipHop, AEG claims Williams sold the copyrights related to over 400 songs in breach of an agreement with AEG. The company claims these assets should have been used to secure an unpaid loan.
The issue goes back to 2017, when AEG gave Young Thug's label, YSL, $5.25 million for the exclusive right to promote his live shows. In exchange, YSL and Williams had to pay back the loan plus interest and would have to share profits from concerts with outside promoters.
However, by 2019, AEG alleges YSL and Williams defaulted on the loan with a $5 million balance remaining. The company also claims that the rapper lied to them about his finances related to repayment.
In early 2022, the legal proceedings were put on hold while Williams served time on unrelated charges. The spotlight has turned on Taite again now that he has settled a plea deal in October of 2024, at which point he will serve 15 years of probation but no time in prison.
Williams started selling off a number of his publishing rights in 2021, allegedly without notifying AEG, even as he continued to deal with legal troubles. The sale ultimately complicated the financial dispute, and court documents show the rapper accrued over $16 million based on the sale, but it also made copyright ownership "particularly fluid," according to documents.
AEG says Young Thug's actions violated their agreement and were "false and misleading" to the new purchaser concerning the status of the works in law. In addition to the original loan amount, the corporation seeks all profits related to the copyrights in question that were sold.
To track down what ultimately happened in the sale of the music rights, AEG has started to issue subpoenas to those involved in the sale and is looking into public records to follow the money trail to see who currently holds the copyrights and where the sale proceeds went.
The company said it would determine within six months if it would pursue legal claims against more parties or other methods for getting back collateral tied to Young Thug's catalog.
However, with the criminal trial now complete, each party appears geared up to move forward in discovery in this high-profile dispute.
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