Jermaine Dupri slaps Sony with $18m lawsuit over unpaid royalties
· The South African
Music producer and So So Def boss Jermaine Dupri has filed a lawsuit against Sony over unpaid and unreported royalties.
So So Def Recordings, So So Def Productions, and the Grammy Award-winning producer (53) are the plaintifs in the $18 million breach of contract lawsuit.
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According to USA Today, Dupri and his label entered into a contract with Sony in 1992, but allegedly it was not until 2023 that they “began to suspect” the company owed millions in royalties “for multiple releases over a substantial period of time.”
The lawsuit alleges that discrepancies came up during an audit in 2025, which showed “systemic pattern of underreporting royalties,” “failure of reporting royalties” and “altering and/or updating statements to report previously earned royalties.”
The music of artists Kris Kross, Xscape, Da Brat, Jagged Edge, Usher, Mariah Carey, Bow Wow, J-Kwon and Bone Crusher are the subject of the lawsuit, which you can read in full here.
According to Music Business Worldwide, Sony Music said in a statement: “This matter concerns a royalty accounting dispute the parties were actively engaged in attempting to resolve. We are disappointed that So-So Def elected to pursue litigation rather than continue that dialogue.”