Kanye West & EMI Settle Publishing Lawsuit

Oct 15 2019

Kanye West has finally closed the chapter in his relationship with publisher EMI, ending an ongoing legal dispute that started all the way back with his debut album, The College Dropout.

Kanye West’s eight-month legal battle against music publisher EMI is finally over. According to reports, court documents filed on September 23 state that both parties have agreed to settle at an undisclosed amount.

(Image Credit – Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock)

“PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that Plaintiffs Please Gimme My Publishing, Inc., West Brands, LLC, Kanye West, and Ye World Publishing, Inc. (the ‘Plaintiffs’) and Defendants EMI April Music, Inc. and EMI Blackwood Music, Inc. (the ‘Defendants’) (collectively, the ‘Parties’) have reached an agreement in principle to settle the above-captioned action in its entirety,” the court document read. “The Parties expect to draft and finalize a settlement agreement within ninety (90) days.”

The legal battle stems from a suit that West filed against EMI back in January. It all centers around a contract he signed while recording the LP that we even crowned as “Album of the Year” at the 2004 Source Awards. The contract explicitly forbade him from retiring as a songwriter, recording artist or producer, a claus that Kanye claimed is illegal under California labor codes. EMI responded with a countersuit that stated Yeezy was actually breaching his deal.

This ordeal traces back to a Twitter rant Ye went on last year where he talked about “mind control,” particularly detailing the time when he tried to buy back his publishing from Sony/ATV and was told no.