Deadmau5 sues label for 8 digit sum in compensation

Just when you thought Deadmau5 had slipped away from the headline spotlight, he’s back and more surprising than ever.

Deadmau5′ early days and its resulting productions were often signed to Play Recordings, a label started by Meleny “Melleefresh” Brown. And it’s this label that Joel is now suing from a significant amount. And when we say significant, were mean a whopping $10,000,000 for each cause of action Zimmerman is pursuing!

Linked with Play Recordings in 2006, Deadmau5 signed to create and complete a couple of remixes and his first memorable track, “Faxing Berlin”. With the success that followed, his swift move to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation was hardly surprising. A bigger platform for a bigger artist. However, this move cost him, with a dispute and settlement resulting in Deadmau5 paying an undisclosed sum of money to Play Recordings as well as stipulating use of his signed material fairly.

However, as with most things the mouse-masked DJ/Producer is associated with, that wasn’t the simple end of the saga, with the Canadian now filing a lawsuit against the label 6 years after their settlement for “allegedly releas[ing] sound recordings of remixes of Deadmau5’s early work without his approval and ‘not of good technical and commercial quality.’ The defendant is also said to be preparing releases of other remixes and mashups.”

Check out the formal statement below, and the full claim here.

Specifically, it’s alleged that the agreement required Deadmau5’s “prior written consent” for any “new” remix entailing the change of melody and/or lyrics. Further, the lawsuit states “the Settlement Agreement expressly provided that Zimmerman did not waive his moral rights with respect to any so-called future remixes — if any were to be made — because by definition any future remix had not been created yet. Thus, Zimmerman would have no way of knowing in advance whether they were objectionable or whether he would want his name disassociated with them; i.e. in order to protect his right of paternity to remain anonymous and not be associated with them.”

via: The Hollywood Reporter