Tyla’s ‘Water’ becomes subject of lawsuit over royalty dispute
Songwriters Olmo Zucca and Jackson LoMastro have initiated an action against South African singer Tyla and her producer Sammy SoSo Awuku in California over her hit song, ‘Water.’
Xucca and LoMastro claim to be co-composers and co-authors of the song and thus entitled to 12.5 percent royalties as opposed to the 10% they were given by the producer, Awuku.
Tyla, her producer Awuku, and the label Epic, under whom the song was released and distributed, have all been named as parties to the suit.
According to reports, the plaintiffs Olmo Zucca and Jackson LoMastro initially attempted to settle the dispute with Sammy Soso in July 2023 before the song was released, but Awuku refused to negotiate.
The plaintiffs maintain that by standard practice, each of the producers gets one-quarter of the 50% publishing rights, but Awuku instead took 15% and shared the remaining between the other compositors, with Zucca and LoMastro getting 10% each.
The filing alleges: “Instead of each producer getting [one quarter] of 50% (i.e., 12.5%) of the music publishing royalties (which would be customary), Awuku took 15% for himself, allocated 10% to each of Zucca, LoMastro, and Goufar, and gave 5% to Christopher Alan “Tricky” Stewart.”
The complaint provided that between March 8-9, 2023, a recording session for ‘Water’ took place in Los Angeles with four producers: Zucca, LoMastro, Goufar, and Awuku.
It also revealed that Zucca and LoMastro produced numerous audio files that were transferred to Awuku’s computer and were used in the final master recording of the Song.
The fillings further argued that all four producers contributed equally to the song and should, therefore, receive full top-line producer credit and an equal percentage of royalties.
Tyla’s ‘Water’ has enjoyed huge commercial success that played a tremendous role in propelling her to global stardom.
The song won the maiden Grammy Awards for Best African Music Song Performance. She also won VMAS, EMAS, BET, and AMA, among other awards, as the song dominated the 2024 award season.
‘Water’ is the first song by an African female lead artist to surpass 1 billion Spotify streams. The song has also accumulated 303 million YouTube views.
