Swizz Beatz and Timbaland Sue Triller Seeking $28 Million for Verzuz Rap-Battle Deal

Swizz Beatz and Timbaland have taken short-form music video app Triller to court, with both artists alleging Triller must pay them $28 million after acquiring Verzuz, their live rap fight show.

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The duo founded popular virtual fighting series Verzuz in March 2020, then less than a year later agreed to sell it to Triller on undisclosed terms. Swizz and Timbaland received shares in Triller, a portion of which would be split among 43 artists who had appeared on Verzuz, including John Legend, Alicia Keys, 2 Chainz, Rick Ross, Too $hort, Patti LaBelle, and Gucci Mane.

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According to the lawsuit, after Triller failed to make a large payment to Swizz (Kasseem Daoud Dean) and Timbaland (Timothy Mosley) in January 2022, the company agreed to a settlement requiring Triller to pay them $18 million ($9 million each) by March 20, with $1 million per month for the next 10 months. Triller did not make any of those promised payments, according to the lawsuit.

“To date, the defendants have failed and refused to make any payment to [Swizz Beatz and Timbaland] of amounts owing and outstanding,” according to the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Los County Superior Court. Angeles.

Representatives for Triller did not respond to a request for comment.

In a statement in March 2021 after selling Verzuz to Triller, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland said, "This is a momentous opportunity not just for Verzuz and Triller, but for the music industry as a whole. bringing Verzuz into the Triller Network ecosystem and expanding the Verzuz brand to sit alongside the powerful Triller app, we can continue to grow and evolve the music industry as a whole, as we we did.

In addition, Triller has been accused by multiple creators of failing to make promised payments under its announced $14 million program with 300 black influencers to create content for the app earlier this month .

Meanwhile, in early 2021, Universal Music Group pulled its music catalog from Triller, alleging the app maker was not paying artists for the use of their music. In May 2021, the companies signed new global licensing agreements covering publishing and recorded music.

In 2019, Proxima Media, owned by Ryan Kavanaugh (former head of twice bankrupt studio Relativity Media) and Bobby Sarnevesht, acquired a majority stake in Triller, a TikTok-like video app.

In December, Triller announced plans to become a publicly traded company through a reverse merger with SeaChange International, a provider of video streaming and advertising technologies. The companies had claimed that the value of the new entity, called “TrillerVerz Corp.”, would be around $5 billion. However, in June 2022, SeaChange and Triller mutually agreed to terminate the merger agreement, pursuant to a regulatory filing.

Photo above: Swizz Beatz (left), Timbaland

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