Triller is reportedly being sued by Universal Music Group for unpaid royalties.
On Thursday (January 5), UMG filed a lawsuit against the US-based TikTok rival, claiming that it has not paid any royalties for the past three quarters.
The lawsuit also alleges that the company has failed to provide quarterly usage reports detailing usage of the Major’s music on the Triller app.
This news was reported by Variety, which reports that UMG says in its complaint that it also terminated its agreement with Triller.
According to Variety’s report, the complaint alleges that Triller agreed to pay Universal nearly $3 million for licensing and early use of its catalog and that those payments were to be made in quarterly installments over a two-year period.
Triller missed the last three payments, according to the complaint.
Today’s story comes nearly two years after Triller signed a renewed licensing agreement with Universal Music Group.
In the weeks leading up to the signing of that agreement, Universal had accused Triller of “shamefully withholding payments owed to our artists” and “refusing to do so.”[ing] to negotiate a license for the future”.
Today’s news also comes three months after Triller confirmed it had secured a $310 million committed investment from GEM (Global Emerging Markets), a Luxembourg-based alternative investment group.
Triller confirmed the deal and said it expects to hold a public listing in Q4 2022. That public listing did not come in the fourth quarter. Triller also claimed at the time that it was on track to hit $100 million in revenue in 2022.
In June, Triller announced that it had filed an S-1 with the SEC for a Nasdaq IPO. At the time, it stated that its listing “is expected to be approved by Q3.”
That announcement in June itself came shortly after Triller said it would scrap another planned IPO — this time via a merger with Seachange — that was originally supposed to “close in the first quarter of 2022.”
Universal’s lawsuit follows a lawsuit brought by Sony Music Entertainment in August 2022, when SME sued Triller for alleged failure to pay “millions of dollars” in contractual royalties.
In a formal response to SME’s complaint filed in December, Triller confirmed that it was unable to make payments to SME for a variety of reasons.
“Triller admits he has not made any payments [SME] since March 2022 and that [SME] notified Triller on July 22, 2022 that Triller was in breach of the Agreement,” the company said in its response, filed December 5 and viewed by MBW.
SME accused Triller of going on a buying spree at a time when payments were not being made and highlighted some of Triller’s acquisition deals when the company failed to pay royalties.
Acquisitions include buying influencer marketing software platform Julius on March 28 and buying Fangage on April 25, a platform that allows developers to host content and sell it to their fans.
Triller’s acquisition spending is also reportedly mentioned in the lawsuit filed by Universal this week.
According to the lawsuit, “Triller was reported to spend significant amounts of money on business acquisitions during the same period that Triller failed to meet its payment and reporting obligations.”
Universal’s lawsuit against Triller follows news last month that the platform removed the Merlin-licensed music catalog, which represents prominent independent labels and distributors.
In a statement issued to MBW on Dec. 2, a Triller spokesman confirmed “that we are taking Merlin Music offline,” but claimed that “Sony is the only one of the big three labels that we don’t have a current agreement with that hasn’t been renewed.” “.
“We have a $2 million dispute with Sony, a dispute that will be decided in court,” they added.
Triller also said last month it was exploring revenue-sharing deals with major labels.
According to a Triller spokesman, the platform is currently “evaluating” what they call a “Spotify-like model” which they add would “include revenue sharing versus large cash payments if our contracts are renewed.”
In a statement released to Variety, a Triller spokesperson described Universal’s new lawsuit as “nothing more than a minor contractual dispute with a publisher, not the label, and has no impact on Triller or its business.”
It added: “This is a contention for release for a very small percentage of the catalog and is normal business for the music industry and for a small amount of money.
“This will be decided in a few years’ time at an appropriate place and we firmly believe that we are right and that a court will rule in our favour. It’s a simple case that virtually every social network has faced in one form or another. It is not the first and will not be the last, but similar to the past clashes of [this] By nature they tend to settle down quietly and end up doing a lot to do nothing.”
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