Universal Music Group has filed a lawsuit against the video-sharing app Triller, claiming that the company has failed to make payments for the past nine months, in violation of their licensing agreement.
In the complaint, filed in a Los Angeles court, Universal alleges that Triller has not paid invoices for the past three quarters under both a “framework agreement” and a “music app agreement,” and has also failed to provide quarterly usage reports detailing the use of Universal’s music on the app.
Universal claims that it notified Triller on Tuesday that it was terminating the agreement due to Triller’s repeated breaches.
Triller has denied the allegations and stated that the lawsuit is a “minor contractual dispute” that will be decided upon in a court in the future.
In August last year Triller was embroiled in a legal rift between Swizz Beats and Timbaland, the pair of super producers who started the digital live music platform Versus which gained popularity at the height of the pandemic.
That lawsuit which has since been settled alleged that the company began missing payments to Swizz Beats and Timband in January 2022, then skipping out on a large settlement promised in March.
Triller fired back against the multi-million-dollar lawsuit filed against them by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland—per The Shade Room. A representative for Triller provided an official statement saying, “This is not a feud over Verzuz, but simply about earn-out payments to Swizz and Tim.” The statement said.
“Swizz and Tim have personally been paid by Triller over $50 million in cash and stock to-date, and they stand to benefit even more over time. In addition, they have annual obligations, which if met, and no breach has occurred, entitles them to additional payments,” the statement continued.
Triller claimed that there are unfinished terms of their agreement: “Only one payment of $10 million is in question. We do not believe they have met the thresholds for that payment yet, which include, but are not limited to, delivery of a set number of Verzuz events for 2022.”
The company was also previously accused of nonpayment after boasting a partnership with 300 Black creators in 2021. Saying the creatives would receive a collective $14 million along with equity for participating in the deal.
Many of those creators, however, alleges that the social media company began missing payments almost immediately, according to reporting in The Washington Post. Creators who produced custom shows for Triller TV, the company’s live-streaming service, also told The Post that the brand owed them tens of thousands of dollars.
As part of the Verzuz deal, Swizz had promised to give every act who performed on the platform including Beenie Man and Bounty Killer who inspired a face to face format a share in TrillerVerz.
Billboard Magazine reported that they’ve decided to give a portion of their equity stake to the 43 entertainers who’ve appeared on Verzuz.
While the exact nature of the deal and exactly how much each artist will get was not disclosed, the list of artists who now own equity in Triller include: John Legend, DMX, Alicia Keys, 2 Chainz, Rick Ross, Too $hort, Patti LaBelle, Gucci Mane, Jeezy, E-40, D’Angelo, Ludacris, RZA, The Dream, Babyface, Nelly, Jagged Edge, Fred Hammond, Jadakiss, Fabolous, Brandy, Monica, Gladys Knight, Boi-1da, Hit-Boy, Ne-Yo, Johnta Austin, Scott Storch, T-Pain, Lil Jon, DJ Premier, Mannie Fresh, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, 112, Kirk Franklin, Sean Garrett and D’Angelo.
Swizz posted before selling Verzus that combined TrillerVerz listing on the Nasdaq is the biggest IPO of all time with a picture of the artists.
“By the artist for the artist with the people ⚡️ It’s always been our dream to go Big with the creatives 🙏🏽 This will be the Biggest creative IPO in History !!!!!l”
The combined company is led by Triller CEO Mahi de Silv and Peter Aquino, who is part of the TrillerVerz executive team.
Verzuz started out as an Instagram Live series in March 2020 between Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, as the pandemic forced people to remain indoors. Swizz Beatz and Timbaland challenged famous artists to live musical battles on Instagram — including Brandy vs Monica, Jeezy vs Gucci Mane, and Ashanti vs Keyshia Cole.
The series quickly became a cultural phenomenon, garnering 6 million views on a single episode, breaking Instagram’s live-streaming record, and winning a ‘Break The Internet’ Webby Award in 2020. In August of that year, Verzuz inked a partnership with Apple and Twitter, to expand its broadcasts outside of Instagram, allowing viewers to watch the battles on Apple Music after the Beenie Man and Bounty Killer show stopping performance.
Ever since the sale of Verzuz, several celebrities have hit out against handing over the cultural capital to corporations.
Jamaican-American actor Michael Rainey Jr., known for his role in 50 Cent’s Power series, has said that Swizz and Timbaland are sellouts.
“Can’t ever jus have something of our own it’s always bout the money … Cool move but these n—as still sellouts,” he said on his Instagram Story.
Swizz Beatz reacted to those comments on Instagram by saying: “But we own Triller.” To drive home his point that he found the comment comical he added a shrug and a laughing-crying emoji. While Timbaland on the same platform said: “We own everything tell who done that.”
Things over at the 2121 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles office seem to have taken a turn in January, when Triller missed a large payment to the Verzuz founders.
The company then agreed to a settlement requiring Triller to pay Swizz Beatz and Timbaland $18 million by March 20, with $1 million a month for the 10 months following. According to the lawsuit, Triller has missed every one of these payments.
There has been no confirmation on whether any other artist than Swizz and Timbaland got their shares or the current value of those shares.
