SONY ORDERED TIKTOK RAPPER TREFUEGO TO PAY ABOUT $800K FOR UNAUTHORIZED SAMPLE

Rapper Trefuego, who has amassed a sizable fan base on TikTok, has been hit with an enormous bill from Sony Music when the label found out that he had sampled a rare Japanese song without permission.

The MC (actual name Dantreal Daevon Clark-Rainbolt) utilized a sample from Toshifumi Hinata’s 1986 song “Reflections” to produce his viral tune “90MH,” according to court documents obtained by Billboard.

Prior to bringing the lawsuit, the international music company made several attempts to locate Trefuego but was unsuccessful. Ultimately, the litigation began in August 2022 when the label sent a takedown request to the massive social media platform.

On Wednesday, March 27, US District Judge Mark T. Pittman verified that the social media star now owes Sony $802,997 in total. This amount includes the income he made as well as the license fees he would have to pay had the song been approved.

Furthermore, the TikToker was mandated to pay royalties to the label going ahead, which included all legal fees and charges in addition to a 50% cut of publishing earnings and a 20% cut of recording revenue.

The judge stated in his decision, “The court hopes this case will serve as a $802,997.23 lesson for defendant in carefully selecting the materials included in his raps.”

The music industry and the well-known social media app have not had a pleasant relationship, particularly in recent months.

In October of last year, Jermaine Dupri used Instagram to discuss the state of hip-hop and to call on its members to cease sharing their thoughts so openly on social media.

“I recently watched this video that Isaac Hayes Jr. and JAY-Z posted discussing how culture is being given away to these apps,” he said. “After that, we have to use these apps to request stuff that is ours.” I also considered myself because Tik Tok recently muted one of my videos.