US District Judge Mark T. Pittman confirmed yesterday (March 27) that TikTok rapper Trefuego now owes Sony a grand total of $802,997, which covers both the profits he earned and the licensing fees he’d have pay if the song was cleared.
Trefuego was also ordered to pay royalties to the label moving forward, including a 50% split of publishing revenue and a 20% cut of recording revenue, on top of all legal fees and costs.
Judge Pittman in his ruling wrote, “The court hopes this case will serve as a $802,997.23 lesson for defendant in carefully selecting the materials included in his raps,”.
The hefty bill Trefuego accumulated follows his growing social media following for his music. The music giant Sony Music label discovered that he sampled a Japanese song without obtaining their permission. Trefuego used samples from Toshifumi Hinata’s 1986 song “Reflections”
Rapper Jermaine Dupri could probably relate to the up and coming TikTok rapper's struggle. Jermain took eto instagram not to long ago venting on Hip Hop. He expressed how people in the culture basically giving the culture away for free to social media platforms. He was beyond fuming with disgust that his ig account was muted for playing his own music in the background.
Do you think social media platforms do too much with controlling music on social media platforms?
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