Jay Z & TIDAL in $5 Million Lawsuit for not paying artist; TIDAL Releases Statement

TIDAL has released a statement today (February 29) after reports surfaced that the streaming company was being sued for $5 million. John Emanuele filed the case with his company, Yesh Music LLC, stating that TIDAL did not pay independent artists proper royalties and violated copyright. The suit names Jay Z's company, S. Carter Enterprises, as a defendant.

Jay Z and TIDAL hit with lawsuit over copyright infringement and underpayment of royalties.

 

The Jasmine Brand reports that musician John Emanuele has filed a $5 million lawsuit against Jay Z's S. Carter Enterprises and two other companies behind TIDAL due to what he claims is copyright infringement and underpayment of royalties.

According to Emanuele, TIDAL is illegally profiting off of artists' work by adding music from independent artists without licensing or receiving authorization from those artists.

“Ironically, when Defendant Carter purchased the Tidal Music Service in 2015, it claimed it would be the first streaming service to pay the artists. Different owner, same game,” Emanuele said, according to The Jasmine Brand.

Additionally, Emanuele claims that TIDAL underpaid royalties and has not provided artists with monthly accounting reports.

The $5 million Emanuele and his company, Yesh Music LLC are suing Jay Z and TIDAL for stems from the $150,000 they're seeking in damages per infringement.

Tidal press statement

"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," the statement says. "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 entire catalogue in question streamed fewer than 13,000 times on TIDAL and its predecessor over the past year," it continues. "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."