TIDAL Responds to $5 Million Lawsuit

TIDAL was recently hit with a few lawsuits regarding the streaming service’s alleged failure to pay royalties. This past weekend, Yesh Music, LLC and The American Dollar’s John Emanuele sued JAY Z’s music platform for $5 million. The lawyer for the prosecution, Richard M. Garbarini, confirmed on Monday that the suit does actually exist. A rep for TIDAL sent the statement over email:

“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. 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 main compositions in question were released by The American Dollar and their entire catalogue streamed fewer than 13,000 times on TIDAL and its predecessor over the past year. 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.”

For more, read the suit here.