By now, the news has spread like wildfire that TIDAL and Jay Z are being sued over unpaid artist royalties. According to Pitchfork, a class-action suit was filed over the weekend in New York City by Yesh Music, LLC and John Emanuele from the American Dollar. The suit is for $5 million. But Tidal isn't going down so easily. They have finally released a statement.
TIDAL released a statement to Complex, addressing the allegations:
Statement from TIDAL TIDAL is up to date on all royalties for the rights to the music stated in Yesh Music, LLC and John Emanuele's claim and they are misinformed as to who, if anyone, owes royalty payments to them. As Yesh Music, LLC admits in their claim, TIDAL has the rights to the Master Recordings through its distributor Tunecore and have paid Tunecore in full for such exploitations. Their dispute appears to be over the mechanical licenses, which we are also up to date on payments via Harry Fox Agency our administrator of mechanical royalties.
The main compositions in question were release by The American Dollar and their entire catalogue streamed fewer than 13,000 times on TIDAL and its predecessor over the past year. We have now removed all music associated with Yesh Music, LLC and John Emanuele from the service. This is the first we have heard of this dispute and Yesh Music, LLC should be engaging Harry Fox Agency if they believe they are owed the royalties claimed. They especially should not be naming S Carter Enterprises, LLC, which has nothing to do with Tidal. This claim serves as nothing other than a perfect example of why America needs Tort reform.
Well, that escalated quite quickly! Jay Z has yet to make a statement on the lawsuit but according to what the representatives from TIDAL said, he may not even respond. Which seems to be the best move since there has been rumors that Samsung might be purchasing Tidal. According to The NY Post, a source has told them that Samsung is considering buying Tidal in the near future. "Samsung is reengaging; they are working on something really big, and they're keeping it very quiet in case it leaks."
Not much more information has come about on Samsung or the lawsuit but we will keep you all informed as news becomes available. The lawsuit is available for everyone's viewing on Scribd.
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