Award-winning music executive and producer Jermaine Dupri has filed a lawsuit against Sony Music Entertainment (SME), accusing the company of underpaying and concealing royalties linked to his work with several high-profile artists, including Mariah Carey, Usher, Kris Kross, Xscape, Bow Wow and Da Brat.
The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Manhattan, seeks at least $18 million in damages over what Dupri describes as years of inaccurate royalty accounting involving him and his record label, So So Def.
According to the complaint, Sony Music knowingly violated its contractual obligations and failed to disclose what Dupri alleges were misleading accounting practices.
“Given the systemic pattern of underreporting royalties, failure of reporting royalties, and altering and/or updating statements to report previously earned royalties, Sony Music Entertainment has engaged in willful deceitful actions designed to harm plaintiffs in their business,” the lawsuit states.
Dupri alleges that royalties generated from the music catalogue of rap duo Kris Kross were concealed for more than 20 years and held in a separate royalty accounting system that was unknown to him and his companies.
The suit also claims Sony failed to properly account for royalties from Jagged Edge’s 1997 album The Jagged Era and allegedly altered royalty statements covering several years.
Dupri and his attorney, Chris Brown, cited at least seven contracts between the producer and various Sony Music entities spanning more than 25 years. They said an independent accounting audit conducted last year uncovered millions of dollars in unpaid royalties owed to Dupri, So So Def Recordings and So So Def Productions.
The lawsuit describes Dupri as one of the architects of Southern hip-hop and R&B, highlighting his induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018 and his 2006 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for co-writing Mariah Carey’s hit We Belong Together with Johntá Austin.
It also notes that recordings produced by Dupri through So So Def and other collaborations have generated more than $200 million in gross revenue.
Although the complaint seeks a minimum of $18 million in damages, Dupri argues that the full extent of the alleged unpaid royalties has yet to be determined.
He contends that the alleged underreporting may extend beyond the contracts already identified, suggesting additional royalties could be owed for producer services provided to other artists connected to So So Def’s agreements with Sony Music.
Sony Music Entertainment has not publicly responded to the allegations contained in the lawsuit.