Sixty Years In Music and Now a Royalty Fight That Is Fun, Messy and Wildly Compelling
Dionne Warwick, the voice behind classics like Walk On By and That’s What Friends Are For, is suddenly at the center of a very modern music business firestorm. A rights management company called Artists Rights Enforcement Corp has sued her in New York federal court, claiming she is trying to back out of a decades-old deal that could cost her millions.
In 2002, Warwick signed an agreement with this firm where they would handle tricky royalty and rights issues on her behalf. In exchange, the company gets a big cut of any money they recover for her. That deal has lasted for more than 20 years and, according to the lawsuit, helped boost Warwick’s royalty income dramatically.
Fast forward to now and the spark for this lawsuit is Doja Cat’s chart-smashing hit “Paint the Town Red” which uses a sample from Warwick’s Walk On By. The sample was cleared and the song broke streaming records, but the rights company says Warwick is now trying to cut them out of the royalty pie. They want to enforce the original deal and get their share of the huge earnings that came from this new pop culture gold.
Warwick’s camp is arguing that the money situation is confusing because she is not listed as a writer on Doja Cat’s track. That means mechanical and publishing splits are weird and complicated.
An 85-year-old legend who bridged soul, pop and R&B and helped shape the music world is now fighting over the business end of a major 2020s rap hit. It reminds us that behind every viral song and nostalgic sample there is real money and very real drama.
