Create Music Group
Attorneys in the music industry are a competitive bunch. They vie for high-performing clients and duel with each other over deal points; battle is in their blood.
Perhaps unexpectedly, a number of these attorneys have joined forces recently, unified by a common goal: Getting their producer clients paid for their contributions to Vultures 1, the first of two 2024 albums from Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) and Ty Dolla $ign.
Since its February release, Vultures 1 has earned more than 817,000 album equivalent units in the U.S., according to Luminate — including over 1 billion on-demand streams — and a Grammy nomination for the hit “Carnival.” But more than 10 producers on the album do not have signed agreements in place with Ye, meaning they are unable to collect fees, as well as potential producer royalties and publishing income, for their work. And several of the producers who worked on Vultures 2, which came out in August, share the same unpaid fate as their colleagues who worked on the first installment.
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“We have clients who’ve produced music on the Vultures album(s) and have still not been paid for their services even though both albums have been released,” Bob Celestin, a music attorney, told Billboard via email. “Presently, we have no idea when payment will be made, which is so unfortunate and unfair. You would think Ye would be more sensitive to this issue because he is a producer.”
“We’ve had trouble receiving a producer agreement from Ye,” adds Brittney Trigg, another lawyer who represents a producer on Vultures 1. A representative for the star did not respond to a request for comment.
This problem continues to plague the music industry at its highest levels. Jason Berger, a partner at Lewis Brisbois, estimates that in “nine out of 10 deals, the producer has not been paid the day the music comes out.” And due to the volume of new releases, the high number of collaborators on some albums, shrinking major-label staffs, and the mercurial nature of superstars — who have to sign off on producer agreements even if they are running around the world on tour — Celestin says that producers often don’t get paid for a year or more after albums come out.
“The more convoluted the system gets, the less money comes down to the people that are actually making the product,” says Nima Nasseri, who manages the producer Hit-Boy. (Hit-Boy was not involved with Vultures 1.) “Why do people have to fight to get paid?” Nasseri asks.
In Ye’s case, five lawyers with clients on Vultures 1 say that getting them compensated for their work has been even more challenging than usual.
The superstar has cycled through at least two attorneys to help with clearances and is now relying on a third, the lawyers says. Longtime Ye associate 88-Keys was initially involved in negotiations with producers; more recently, Matt Geffen from the Revels Group has taken on a prominent role. (Geffen did not respond to a request for comment.) On top of that, Ye also changed distributors, leaving Label Engine, which is owned by Create Music Group, in favor of Too Lost. (Vultures 1 and 2 were released independently.)
In a typical distribution deal, artists are responsible for clearing songs and disbursing royalties to collaborators. Distribution companies are usually shielded from legal liability, though many offer tools to help streamline the royalty splitting process once clearances are completed.
Still, earlier this year, attorneys for a number of producers on Vultures 1 banded together, coordinating their efforts via a group chat, to draft threatening legal letters to send to Create, since no royalties were flowing to their clients. They hoped that, in a relatively small industry that places a premium on maintaining good relationships, their collective weight might convince Create to try to help them. (A representative for Create declined to comment.) Before the messages could be sent, however, Ye switched distributors.
The producers on Vultures 1 may find cold comfort in the fact that even Atlantic Records — the label to which Ty Dolla $ign is signed — is having a tough time getting paid, according to a source close to the situation. (West alluded to this in an Instagram post in September.) The source says Too Lost is now holding money for Atlantic and other rights holders and working with Ye’s team to clear the records accordingly. Representatives for both Atlantic and Too Lost declined to comment.
The challenges that producers face in getting paid in a timely manner seem all but certain to persist. “The industry’s ‘back of house’ infrastructure really isn’t designed to handle dozens of producers and other collaborators on a single project,” says Tim Kappel, an entertainment attorney. “There are inevitably going to be delays even when everyone is operating in good faith. Throw in a few bad actors here and there, and it’s easy to understand why producers are feeling aggrieved.”
The sad truth is that producers can’t do much to redress those grievances. They have very little leverage once they have turned over the files containing the music that will appear on an artist’s album.
At this point, “we have no recourse besides to try to sue [Ye],” says one attorney with a client on Vultures 1. “But that’s costly.” And, as another music lawyer points out, “Legal claims against Ye don’t really seem to go anywhere.”
In situations where producers are frustrated because they haven’t been paid for their work, their representatives often “threaten to file a takedown notice on the recording,” according to Kappel. “But this is inappropriate since the DMCA takedown process can only be used to report copyright infringements,” he continues. “There is simply no cause of action for infringement among co-authors.” There have been several attempts to take down tracks on Vultures 1, all unsuccessful, according to multiple lawyers with knowledge of the back-and-forth behind the scenes.
Some producers who contributed to the album did receive deal offers from Ye’s team this fall. However, those offers were buyouts, according to multiple attorneys, meaning the producer would accept a flat fee and not receive any royalties if the album recouped its costs. Recoupment may be out of reach — as Ty Dolla $ign told Billboard in June, Vultures 1 is “a very expensive album” recorded between Las Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles, Japan, Italy, Saudi Arabia and Dubai. Still, buying out producers in this fashion is atypical, and multiple lawyers for Vultures 1 producers rejected the offers.
Sources close to Ye now believe he is planning to release another album soon, meaning that the star could put out three uncleared projects in a single year. “It’s a mess,” says one attorney involved with Vultures 1 clearances. “I just keep going back to that word.”
Chicago-based private equity firm Flexpoint Ford said on Tuesday that it invested $165 million in Create Music Group in a funding round that a source said values Create as worth $1 billion. Create plans to use the money to scale operations, expand services and fund acquisitions, said CEO & founder Jonathan Strauss. “Flexpoint’s investment will […]
Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign‘s collaborative album Vultures 1 moved between distribution companies on Thursday (Feb. 15), starting the day with FUGA and then moving over to Label Engine.
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Label Engine, a distribution company acquired by Create Music Group in 2015, had previously put out the two lead singles from Vultures 1. Confusingly, however, the album then arrived via FUGA.
A FUGA spokesperson told Billboard on Thursday that “a long-standing FUGA client delivered the album Vultures 1 through the platform’s automated processes, violating our service agreement.” As a result, the company said it planned “to remove Vultures 1 from our systems.” This created some turbulence for West’s release, which was briefly pulled off Apple Music and iTunes before it reappeared.
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The album’s new home, Label Engine, was founded by Rich Billis; in 2022, he said that “over 1,500 labels and a total of over 90,000 artists” use his company for distribution.
Billis said the company built its client base in part because “we had a very low [distribution] rate which was 15%, compared to 25% (what a lot of other distributors were charging).”
“We also provided free use of all the accounting and promotion tools I had created,” he continued. “That seemed to do very well. We quickly acquired customers and grew quite quickly in the upcoming years. From there, we got purchased by Create Music Group, which was a client of ours for a year or so. That’s when I took over as CTO of Create Music Group.”
On Wednesday, Spotify also removed the song “Good (Don’t Die)” from Vultures 1 after Donna Summer‘s estate complained it interpolated the singer’s work without permission, as did Amazon Music and Apple Music later, too.
But despite the hiccups around the new album release, listeners continue to seek it out. The song “Carnival” is No. 1 on Spotify’s Daily Top Songs Global chart, picking up nearly 6 million daily streams on the service. “Burn” and “FUK SUMN” are also in the top 20.
Jermaine Dupri‘s legendary So So Def Recordings has signed a multi-year agreement with Create Music Group that encompasses all of the label’s recordings, publishing and back catalog. In addition, Dupri will supervise the launch of new artists and music under the partnership and double as Create Music Group’s the newly appointed creative director.
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Concurrent with his new appointment, Dupri will segue from CEO of So So Def Recordings to its chairman & founder. He, in turn, has named Bryan Patrick Franklin to replace him as CEO and Joe Romulus Esq. as head of legal business affairs. In his role as creative director for Create Music Group, Dupri will work on “expanding the company’s impact on the cross-section between music and culture,” as noted in the press release announcing the news.
Dupri, a Grammy-winning producer and member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, stated in the release, “I have been looking for a home for the entire So So Def brand so I can continue to do what I started.” Last year, So So Def celebrated its 30th anniversary.
Jonathan Strauss, CEO & founder of Create Music Group, commented, “Jermaine has been one of the most successful and impactful forces in music for the last three decades. We are honored that he and his team have decided to partner with us for both his catalog and future output.”
Dupri’s talent as a songwriter-producer is behind such platinum and multi-platinum songs as Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together” (which won him the Grammy for best R&B song), Usher’s “Nice & Slow,” Xscape’s “Just Kickin’ It” and his own “Money Ain’t a Thang” featuring Jay-Z. He also produced the hits “Burn” and “Confessions Part II,” from Usher’s diamond-certified Confessions album. Upon founding So So Def Recordings in 1993, Dupri helmed a roster of R&B/hip-hop and pop hitmakers that included Xscape, Da Brat, Jagged Edge and Anthony Hamilton. A DJ and the second rapper after Jay-Z to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Dupri also established the plant-based ice cream alternative JD’s Vegan.
Create Music Group was founded in 2015. The Hollywood-based data-driven media and technology firm has worked with stars and global brands such as Jennifer Lopez, Marshmello and PepsiCo. Among the media networks that Create Music Group operates are the independent music distribution platform Label Engine and the Gen Z-focused digital entertainment and marketing agency Flighthouse.
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