Aspire Music Group has launched a lawsuit against Cash Money Records in relation to the profits and copyright royalties from Drake’s first six solo albums.
According to the legal claim, the Cash Money record label is guilty of a breach of contract and a breach of good faith in relation to the money-spinning albums.
Aspire argues that, in 2008, the company signed an exclusive recording agreement with Drake, before entering into an agreement with Cash Money Records.
Aspires says that, under the terms of that accord, the label allowed the chart-topping rap star to record for Cash Money in exchange for one-third of the net profits of his first six albums.
What’s more, Aspire claims it was entitled to one third of the copyrights of his master recordings for the albums, ‘So Far Gone’, ‘Thank Me Later’, ‘Take Care’, ‘Nothing Was the Same’, ‘If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late’ and ‘Views’.
But Aspire has now insisted Cash Money never paid out any profits or royalties "besides a few modest advances".
The complaint also states that Cash Money signed a direct exclusive artist agreement with Drake in 2013, despite Aspire’s pre-existing deal.
Drake was paid as much as $10 million under that agreement, $4 million of which was in profits from albums under the Aspire-Cash Money accord. But Aspire claims that money was instead due to the firm.
The precise value of the lawsuit remains unclear, but is thought to total tens of millions of dollars.
Aspire is, therefore, asking the court to supervise a full accounting of Cash Money’s books in order to determine the monetary value of its claim.
Cash Money faces lawsuit over Drake albums
