Sony Music Entertainment (SME) is officially suing short-form video-sharing app Triller over an alleged “failure and refusal to pay millions of dollars in contractual royalties.”
The Big Three record label filed the clearly worded copyright infringement lawsuit in a New York federal court yesterday. And the defendant company, for its part, unveiled a new round of funding and doubled its IPO plans on Monday.
According to Sony Music’s simple complaint, a licensing deal was originally signed with Triller back in 2016. Of course, the parties involved have retooled the original agreement several times over the years, as the short-form app saw significant user growth, eventually signing an 11th iteration in December 2021.
During the course of the agreement, “Triller had a history of failing to make payments on time,” according to the plaintiffs, who allege those alleged failures “escalated” in 2022.
Effective December 2020, Triller’s 2021 license agreement required an upfront payment (details of which were not disclosed in the lawsuit) followed by monthly installments between March and November 2022, the law says.
Predictably, in light of the present lawsuit, SME alleges that “Triller has failed to make any monthly payments due,” which are said to be “in the millions of dollars.” The sizable sum accounts for interest on existing credit as well as “non-refundable, non-refundable late reporting fees … for each month Triller fails to provide required reports on time” in relation to music usage.
“It went on a buying spree in the exact same months that Triller wasn’t making royalties to Sony Music,” reads the unqualified document, which specifically references the company’s acquisition of “influencer platform” Julius and creator. Engagement service Fangage at the beginning of 2022.
Notwithstanding some communications between Sony Music and Triller regarding a possible payment date, the major label issued a “notice of material breach” in late July, followed by a formal termination of the license agreement on August 8, the lawsuit states. Consequently, SME says that Triller’s continued use of his music (after termination) constitutes copyright infringement.
At the time of writing, Triller did not appear to have responded to the social media complaint. Notably, the platform resolved a months-long licensing impasse with Universal Music in May 2021, but the leading label appears not to have filed a lawsuit of its own against Triller.
In early August, the video-sharing app was named in a separate multimillion-dollar lawsuit, this time from Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, who say they are entitled to additional compensation under the purchase agreement Triller signed to acquire Verzuz .
Comments are closed.