Lil Durk is being sued for fraud for allegedly trying to sell the rights to the same song twice.
According to court documents as seen on Music Business Worldwide, Exceed Talent Capital filed a lawsuit with a New York court on Wednesday. In the complaint, the fintech startup company claimed that Lil Durk, legally known as Durk Derrick Banks, had agreed to sell the rights to his song “Bedtime” to them despite having an exclusive contract with Sony Music Entertainment’s Alamo Records.
Exceed Talent Capital says they acquired the “Bedtime” rights for $600,000 only to find out later on that Durk “previously had assigned to a third party the exact same rights.”
Durk and Exceed announced a partnership last October to offer fans a “Trenches All-Access Pass,” comparable to an NFT, which was to offer access to a private Grand Theft Auto roleplay server built by the rapper. At the time, the server had a waitlist of over 15,000 users. According to Music Business Worldwide, fans were offered lifetime access, limited edition in-game wearables, and first dibs on shares from proceeds of “Bedtime.”
Exceed says it was notified in May by Alamo Records of Durk’s exclusive recording agreement and that neither they nor distributor Empire possessed the rights to assign any interest in any revenue streams generated by “Bedtime.” Exceed was then “forced” to return the funds invested by third parties which allegedly led to significant damage to the startup’s reputation and relationships with partners and investors.
The company, who reportedly had paid $450,000 of the $600,000 owed, claims they wound up sustaining $12 million in damages over the failed deal.
In addition to Durk, the lawsuit also includes manager Andrew “Dilla” Bonsu, Only The Family Entertainment, Inc, OTF Label, and firm TTPMG.
Last week, it was reported that the artist formerly known as Kanye West was interested in buying out Durk’s contract from Sony.
