Farida Joyce
Zakes Bantwini is being sued over breach of contract after signing deals with two record labels for his Ghetto King album.
The “Osama” hitmaker is being sued by record company Paradise Africa for R2.4 million for double dipping.
Zakes signed a deal with Paradise Africa, an international record label in August 2021 to distribute his music around the globe.
The contract is legally binding for 10 years.
Paradise Africa agreed to pay Zakes’s company Manyonin Records 50% of the net profit on the exploitation of the album.
This clashes with another ten year deal he signed with Universal Music in October 2016.
The deal between Zakes and Universal Music meant that he no longer held the exclusive exploitation rights to the album and rendered their agreement invalid.
“The defendant did not hold the right, power and authority to enter into a new agreement,” read the papers.
The company said were it not for the breach it would have exclusively exploited the album and derived commercial value from it for the next ten years. They said Zakes would earn a profit of about R2.4 million.
“In the circumstances, the defendant is liable to the plaintiff in the amount of R2 402 754,” read the papers.
Ghetto King, Zakes’s third studio album, was released by Paradise Sound System on 3 December 2021.
According to court papers, as per Sunday World, Paradise says they had the right to distribute the album’s audio and visual productions.
The recording company also states that they also own the right to distribute the artist’s songs everywhere in the world besides Africa’s online music platforms like Beatport.
Paradise also claims that they had a right to the singer’s physical exploit of the album which was released in December 2021 but with Universal Music deal in place. Zakes doesn’t have the rights to the album.
Zakes has not responded to the allegations regarding the lawsuit.
