Jermaine Dupri Files $18 Million Lawsuit Against Sony Over Long-Running Royalty Dispute

Jermaine Dupri has taken Sony Music to court, accusing the company of withholding millions in royalties that he says stretch back to the early 1990s. The suit, filed Tuesday, July 7, and obtained by XXL a day later, seeks at least $18 million and adds another chapter to a relationship Dupri says has spanned more than three decades.

According to the complaint, the So So Def founder is suing for breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of fair dealing. The filing says Dupri and his label first entered into an agreement with Sony in 1992, followed by several additional deals over the years. In the language of the suit,

"So So Def had a 32-year contractual and business relationship with [Sony]. As it turns out, many of [Sony]’s dealings with So So Def have not been lawful and have harmed So So Def in its business."

Dupri, the Atlanta producer behind records for Mariah Carey, Bow Wow, Usher, J-Kwon, Bone Crusher and others, says he first began suspecting in 2023 that he had not been fully paid for past production work. He claims the problem has not stopped there. The filing also says he is owed more than $10 million in interest payments tied to So So Def artists including Kriss Kross, Da Brat and Xscape.

The suit goes further in describing what Dupri calls a pattern of misconduct.

"Given the systemic pattern of (1) underreporting royalties (2) failure of reporting royalties and (3) altering and/or updating statements to report previously earned royalties, [Sony] has engaged in willful deceitful actions designed to harm Plaintiffs in their business,"

the complaint states.

Dupri, who won a Grammy as a producer, is asking for a jury trial and says he wants no less than $18 million in damages, along with interest and attorneys’ fees. XXL has reached out to Sony Music Entertainment for comment.