Kanye West Sued by a Producer regarding Payment and Copyright Arrears

Kanye West (Wikimedia)

JAKARTA - Kanye West has to deal with the law again. The rapper, who is familiarly called Ye, was sued by a producer with the stage name John Doe for allegedly refusing to pay wages for two years, violating contracts, and enriching himself without rights.

In the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the producer claimed that he was recruited suddenly only two days before the launch of the album "Vultures 2" in August 2024. He was then re-involved in the production of the album "BULLY".

During the period of cooperation, the producer claimed to have produced more than 400 generations of vocal results from artificial intelligence (AI) using at least 13 custom AI voice models, in addition to his personal vocal contributions. The results of his work were used on at least five tracks on the album "Vultures 2" and several parts on the album "BULLY".

Even though he has filed a continuous billing, Kanye West is considered to have deliberately ignored the financial and copyright rights of the producer on various digital music player platforms.

"The defendant refused to provide compensation for the services provided by the plaintiff, failed to provide a written contract as required by law, and did not include the plaintiff's name on the digital streaming platform for his creative contribution," the lawsuit read, quoted by Rolling Stone, Friday, August 7.

With losses on contributions to at least seven song tracks, the plaintiff demanded material compensation of at least 110,000 US dollars or the equivalent of Rp. 1.9 billion.

This case adds to the long list of legal problems that have ensnared Kim Kardashian's ex-husband.

Previously, West was also sued by his former personal assistant regarding sexual violence and unilateral dismissal, although the case was eventually settled out of court.

In addition, West was also sentenced to a compensatory fine of 140,000 US dollars related to a dispute over the renovation of his luxury home in Malibu.