Triller has reached a settlement with Sony Music Entertainment to pay $4.57 million to settle the music label’s breach of deal lawsuit against the TikTok-style video-sharing app, according to a court adventure.
Triller has admitted responsibility for the dispute, according to the filing submitted by Sony Music attorneys on April 26 to the federal district court judge assigned to the case. Representatives for Triller did not respond to a request for comment Friday. A Sony Music spokesperson declined to comment.
“The prompt entry of judgment is necessary to protect against any further dissipation of Triller’s assets or, even worse, a bankruptcy filing,” Sony Music said in the court request to rule on the consent agreement. “Triller is over a year behind on some of these contract payments and Sony Music shouldn’t have to wait any longer to enforce a collection judgment.”
Sony Music sued Triller in August 2022 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that Triller stopped paying music licensing fees in March of last year. Sony Music said it terminated its licensing agreement with Triller. However, the label alleged that “Triller continued to use Sony Music sound recordings without permission on the Triller app after the agreement was terminated,” according to its filing this week. Triller first entered into a content distribution deal with Sony Music in September 2016.
After Sony Music filed a lawsuit, Triller said in a statement that the lawsuit “grossly misrepresents our relationship with [Sony Music] and delves into the bully persona for which major music labels are often criticized. We are focused on promoting the creator economy and will continue to seek a contract that achieves this goal.
In December 2022, Triller removed music catalogs from Sony Music, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Merlin. A Triller representative at the time stated that Triller “re-evaluates each of our label deals as they come due, as our use of catalog music represents a small fraction of our overall activity with creators”.
In January 2023, UMG sued Triller, alleging, like Sony Music, that Triller failed to make payments for the past nine months in violation of their license agreement.
Additionally, last summer Triller was sued by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, who alleged that Triller owed them $28 million in payments from the app company’s acquisition of Verzuz, their fight show. live rap. The parties settled the lawsuit in September 2022 on undisclosed terms.
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