Short-form video service Triller has agreed to pay Sony Music USD $4.57 million in a court case brought by the major music company last year for breach of contract.
Sony Music’s lawsuit claimed that Triller had missed multiple agreed payments throughout 2022 for licensing the major’s music.
These missed scheduled monthly payments began in March 2022, said Sony, through to August 2022, when the music firm terminated the agreement.
In addition, claimed Sony, Triller was liable to pay monies for each of September, October, and November 2022.
In a filing with Manhattan federal court yesterday (April 26), Sony Music’s legal representative asked the court for a final judgment.
The filing stated that Triller had “conceded liability” for the missing payments, and had “agreed that as of April 4, 2023, Triller is liable to Sony Music on Sony Music’s breach of contract claim for $4,574,250.”
“Prompt entry of judgment is needed to protect against any further dissipation of Triller’s assets or, worse still, a bankruptcy filing.”
Sony Music filing with Manhattan federal court yesterday (April 26)
In the filing, which you can read through here, Sony specifically called for an urgent final judgment because, said the major, Triller had claimed an “inability to pay” in the past.
The filing reads: “Prompt entry of judgment is needed to protect against any further dissipation of Triller’s assets or, worse still, a bankruptcy filing.”
In addition, Sony Music said it intends to continue with a separate claim against Triller regarding alleged copyright infringement – which it called “distinct” from the claim against breach of contract.
Sony Music said the $4.57 million amount covered both the missed payments from 2022, in addition to interest.
“Sony Music has been forced to litigate, through no fault of its own and at substantial cost, a contract claim that Triller now concedes,” reads the filing.
“Triller is more than a year late on some of those contract payments and Sony Music should not have to wait longer to enforce a judgment to collect”
Sony’s lawsuit against Los Angeles-headquartered Triller was originally filed last summer.
A Triller spokesperson subsequently told MBW: “We have a dispute with Sony over $2 million, a dispute which will be decided in the court system.”
Triller, which intended to go public in the final quarter of 2022 – but did not – claimed in October 2022 that it had secured a binding USD $310 million investment from GEM (Global Emerging Markets), a Luxembourg based alternative investment group.Music Business Worldwide