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Music ownership has always been one of the trickiest parts of the music business. Questions often arise about who owns which rights and what kind — for instance, there is a difference in copyrights between the song and the recording of the song. Ultimately, all these debates boil down to two main questions: who has control over the music and who gets paid for it. Today, those questions reared their heads once again, as TMZ reports that Migos member Offset is suing the group’s label, Quality Control Music, for the rights to his solo recordings.
Offset’s lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday, maintains that Offset negotiated a solo deal with QC’s parent label Motown but after Offset released his new single “5 4 3 2 1,” Quality Control claimed ownership of the single — and the associated percentage of its royalties. With Offset preparing another single with Moneybagg Yo for release this Friday, it appears that he doesn’t want a repeat. The lawsuit was filed as rumors of a possible Migos breakup circulate online due to Offset releasing solo music at the same time as Quavo and Takeoff have released their own music sans Offset.
This isn’t the first time Migos have disputed their contracts with QC in court. The group sued their former attorney in 2019 for a conflict of interest that they say “cheated [the group] out of millions of dollars.” However, that suit was dismissed early last year after presumably coming to an agreement out of court — which possibly involved Offset buying out the remainder of any solo advance he was given. Quality Control CEO Pierre Thomas addressed the previous lawsuit on Twitter, writing, “The last lawsuit was filed publicly and dismissed quietly. Let’s see how this one go. Been to real for all this lame sh*t. Everyone know the real problem.”
Offset, however, seemed to disagree with P, responding, “N****s act like im the problem I paid millions to get my rights back. N**** you black balled me I ain’t said Sh*t one time homie. I ain’t spoke to you in 2 years now I drop and you want ya name on my credit?”
Even Offset’s wife Cardi B got involved, writing in a now-deleted tweet, “Offset bought himself out of his Qc deal after they didn’t want to renegotiate his contract…. I’m tired of people trying to make Offset look like the bad guy ….Enough is enough!”
Meanwhile, according to TMZ, Migos’ contract with QC remains intact, so the group will be releasing under Quality Control for any future releases. Whether they can cooperate again remains to be seen, but if there’s bad blood with the label, that could explain why they seem to have internal friction as well.
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