More details about Lil Wayne‘s lawsuit against Cash Money Records has emerged. A copy of the official lawsuit filed is available and it is a lengthy read (over 20 pages total). Luckily, the DJBooth.net compiled a list of key points from the court document that exposes the business shortcomings of Cash Money Records. Since 2003, when Young Money was first launched, there has been several contract re-negotiations. Lil Wayne’s rise to hip-hop stardom and Drake’s success was the main cause of this. But, re-negotiating multi-million contracts is not the issue. The issue is that terms and conditions of the contract(s) were never executed by Cash Money. The legendary label screwed up. In fact, things were a financial wreck for the majority of Young Money’s existence. Lil Wayne is seeking $51 million. This amount is a combination of missing advances, royalties from Wayne’s solo albums, and money owed to Young Money. Obviously, Cash Money Records failed Lil Wayne horribly in terms of his original 1998 solo deal and their 2003 Young Money joint venture. It’s also apparent that Cash Money has some serious bookkeeping issues that need to be addressed immediately. If not, the empire that Slim, Birdman, and their roster built is quickly going to come crumbling down. Here are the details of Wayne’s lawsuit below: The Facts: November, 1998: Lil Wayne signs to Cash Money. February, 2003: Young Money is officially launched. Lil Wayne owns 49% of Young Money, Birdman and Cash Money own the other 51%. All copyrights, fees, profits, etc. will be similairly split between them. Lil Wayne is not able to sign artists to Young Money without Cash Money’s approval. January, 2005: Disputes lead to contract re-negotiations. Under the new version of the deal (a.k.a. the “Settlement”), Wayne is obligated to produce additional albums and in exchange gets a higher royalty rate. This means that the rift between Wayne and Cash Money is nothing new. In fact, it’s been going strong for nearly a decade now. July, 2006: Yet another re-negotiation raises Wayne’s advances and obligates him to do two Cash Money “duet albums.” And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Like Father, Like Son exists. June, 2008: Wayne and Cash Money agree that the release of Carter III fufills the obligations of his original 1998 deal. After the re-negotiations to that original deal, he now owes four solo albums and one duet album. 2008: Wayne and Cash Money agree to extend their Young Money joint venture an additional five years. As part of that agreement, Cash Money agrees to keep $1 million in an account at all times to pay Young Money recording expenses and overhead, and agrees to pay Wayne his 49% share of the Young Money profits monthly. June, 2009: Drake signs to Young Money/Cash Money. Under the terms of the deal, Wayne would get one-third of the net profits generated by Drake. This means Drake officially signed to YMCMB a few months after So Far Gone dropped, although he was certainly in talks with them well before. [Side note: Aspire Records, a label started by Wayne and Drake’s manager Cortez Bryant, is also listed as Drake’s label.] April, 2009: Yet another re-negotiation. Cash Money agrees to pay Wayne a $10 million advance for each solo album: $8 million at the start of recording, $2 million at completion. Also, they agree to extend the Young Money/Cash Money joint venture until June of 2015. Cash Money agrees to pay $200K a quarter for Young Money “overhead” expenses. The Allegations: Cash Money has not paid the $200K quarterly or kept the $1 million expense account agreed to in the 2008 and April, 2009 agreements. Cash Money has NEVER provided Young Money with accounting of how much money Drake has made (and therefore the amount Wayne is owed under his 49% share). And yes, according the lawsuit, that’s never, as in never ever, as in “has failed to provide a single accounting in respect to the exploitation of Drake’s recordings.” That’s crazy talk. Under the terms of the 2003 Young Money/Cash Money joint venture, Cash Money was required to get approval from Young Money for any marketing expenses over 300K. They routinely failed to get that approval, spending millions in marketing expenses. Simply put, Cash Money allegedly spent millions marketing Young Money artists and projects without Young Money’s approval, even though Young Money would owe 49% of those expenses under the terms of the 2003 deal. Cash Money has allegedly registered the copyright for Young Money music solely under the Cash Money name, instead of splitting the copyright between Young Money and Cash Money. Cash Money has allegedly routinely refused to sign artists Lil Wayne wanted to sign. Cash Money has allegedly failed to pay those involved in making Young Money albums, opening up Young Money to numerous lawsuits. No shit. In terms of Wayne’s solo deal with Cash Money (so not Young Money), Cash Money allegedly refuses to show him accounting statements regarding money he’s potentially owed. December, 2014: Lil Wayne turned in a completed version of Carter V. Cash Money allegedly refused to pay him the $2 million album completion advance, and had only so far paid him $2 million of the $8 million recording advance owed to Wayne under the terms of the 2009 agreement. What Lil Wayne Is Asking For: A total of $51 million. That $51 million is the sum total of several parts: advances owed, money owed Wayne for his solo music, money owed Wayne for Young Money music, etc. Because Cash Money has so thoroughly failed to follow the terms of the original 1998 deal, Wayne’s solo deal with Cash Money should be considered finished moving forward. Because Cash Money has so thoroughly failed to follow the terms of the 2003 joint venture deal, Young Money’s relationship to Cash Money should be finished moving forward. Lil Wayne should have all proper copyrights restored to himself and Young Money, and should be paid adaquately moving forward for music recorded under the original deals. How Birdman’s legal team is going to handle this situation should be interesting. Given their father/son-like relationship, it would be sad to see Birdman and Lil Wayne part ways forever. But hey, business is known to kill friendships. WHAT ARE YOU THOUGHTS ON LIL WAYNE’S LAWSUIT AGAINST CASH MONEY?
