Key Takeaways
- MMMG Inc. filed a federal lawsuit on October 15 in the Southern District of New York against Cordae, EMPIRE Distribution, Apeshit and Mass Appeal Records, seeking at least $25 million and an injunction to halt the release of recordings it claims to own.
- MMMG says it signed Cordae in April 2018 and claims full ownership of his recorded copyrights along with exclusive merchandising, touring and endorsement rights. Anderson .Paak is not named as a defendant.
- The complaint includes a copyright infringement claim over the September 16 single "A Good Day" seeking $5 million, a breach of contract claim over withheld revenue seeking $15 million, and a tortious interference claim seeking $5 million.
- The dispute centers on whether Cordae's switch from Atlantic to Stem for distribution satisfied a contract clause, and the joint album "Heavy Is The Crown" remains scheduled for an October 23 release pending the court's ruling on MMMG's requested injunction.
Cordae is heading into release week for his joint album with Anderson .Paak, with a federal lawsuit hanging over it.
MMMG Inc. filed a 20-page complaint on Oct. 15 in the Southern District of New York, naming Cordae along with EMPIRE Distribution, Apeshit, and Mass Appeal Records. The label is asking for at least $25 million and an injunction that would halt releases of recordings it says it owns.
The Florida-based company claims it signed Cordae in April 2018 and put out his first two albums with Atlantic as a distributor. In the lawsuit, it claims full ownership of his recorded copyrights, plus exclusive merchandising, touring and endorsement rights.
The suit centers around the upcoming release of Heavy Is the Crown, a joint album Cordae is releasing with .Paak.
The filing lays out three claims. MMMG alleges willful copyright infringement tied to the Sept. 16 release of the project’s lead single "A Good Day" and its Dave Meyers-directed video, seeking at least $5 million. A breach of contract claim against Cordae over withheld merch, touring, and endorsement revenue seeks at least $15 million. And, finally, a tortious interference claim against the three labels seeks another $5 million. More copyright infringement claims will be added if more Heavy Is the Crown tracks are released.
The timeline in the complaint starts on Sept. 2, 2025, when Atlantic terminated its distribution deal, followed two days later by MMMG's notice that it had replaced Atlantic with music distribution platform Stem.
From there it runs through the album's announcement on Aug. 19 of this year, MMMG's Aug. 20 cease-and-desist letters to EMPIRE and Mass Appeal, and the Sept. 16 arrival of "A Good Day."
The fight turns on whether the move to Stem satisfied a contract clause giving MMMG six months to line up a qualified distributor. Cordae's attorneys argue the arrangement was invalid without an inducement letter agreeing to its terms. MMMG says that Cordae’s deal with them “contains no requirement whatsoever” for such a letter, and that the rapper’s challenge is in bad faith.
Heavy Is The Crown is still set to come out on Oct. 23.
