Rapper Cassper Nyovest and businessman and well-known DJ Sumbody are supposedly at odds once more over unpaid royalties. According to City Press, Cassper has been ordered by a court to pay over R147 000 in royalties for their 2018 collaboration, Remote Control. This is according to a court ruling that DJ Sumbody secured. The news follows Cassper Nyovest’s criticism of claims that he owes DJ Sumbody royalties for the song.
Sumbody
According to City Press, DJ Sumbody filed an ex parte application at the Johannesburg High Court in November 2021 regarding unpaid royalties for his collaboration with Cassper Nyovest, Remote Control. An ex parte application is one that is brought to the court without notice and without all parties being present. In a Samsung commercial featuring Cassper Nyovest in 2021, the song was used.
According to a ruling by the Johannesburg High Court, DJ Sumbody and Cassper Nyovest reached a “valid and binding” agreement about the track’s royalties in 2018. The application papers for DJ Sumbody said that the respondents “agree and undertake to give the applicant with all the signed details they engaged into and any other third party within three days of the agreement’s signature.”
The article also stated that the contract at issue is valued at roughly R5 million, and that Cassper Nyovest’s team had agreed to suggest a “payment plan” between the parties. Within five days of the day this agreement was signed, the respondents agreed to submit a payment arrangement, which the applicant and the respondents would then agree upon. “The respondents agree that the applicant is granted leave to approach this honorable court on the same papers and duly supplemented, so that the honorable court may determine the precise monetary amount in rand value to be paid to the applicant right away, if the applicant and the respondents are unable to come to an agreement.
It was “unfortunate that such a straightforward problem” had progressed to this point, according to DJ Sumbody’s legal counsel, Tailor Made Legal Solutions. Lesego Chaka said, “We do not have any other comments other than to reiterate our support for any entertainers who have been denied their rights, including those relating to royalties. The verdict affirms our client’s position and those of other entertainers in his position, so we will pursue all other income.