By Joseph Akahome
A legal battle over copyright claims seem to be brewing between popular Nigerian VAS company, MTECH and the management of popular singer, Waconzy, DV8 Media, over claims of unpaid royalties to the singer by the company.
In a press release made available recently, DV8 media stated that royalty proceeds from the ‘I Celebrate’ album by Waconzy were being withheld by MTECH, who they claim have profited immensely from the sale of the singer’s tunes.
According to the statement, ‘It’s been over 6months (two quarters) and yet not even a kobo has been paid to dv8 media and instead of giving the real figures of caller tunes hits, MTECH decided to send a fraudulent report excluding the hits from (communications networks) Etisalat, Airtel and Starcomms claiming they that don’t have any record from the other telecommunications companies’.
‘DV8 media is a law abiding company and we are getting ready to take the matter to court. The money in question is not our primary concern. However this is a fight for justice and sanity in the caller tune business. We also advise Telecoms Company to withdraw the license of MTECH as they are a fraudulent company. We also advice artistes and record label owners not to work with such companies’.
However, in a swift response, MTech debunked claims made by Waconzy’s reps, saying that due to the artiste being signed to another content provider, the earlier agreement reached between both parties subsequently became void.
‘Yes (DV8) did indeed come to MTech Communications to sign Waconzy’s music to be used as caller ring back tonez via MTech’s relationship with operators’, an MTech spokesperson said.
‘However, on sending his agreement to the operators for verification and upload, an investigation was carried out and we were informed by MTN that Waconzy was already signed exclusively to another content provider through this same DV8 media and due to this, his contract with us became null & void and the operator refused to upload his tones under MTech. MTech has not defrauded DV8 media and Waconzy is not signed to MTech’.
6 comments
Weather signed or ₪ø̲̣̣ sign according to what I gathered from the statement Mtech is try to defraud DV8!!!! Blinzy say so ma number 07033166159 or ma pin 236FA150 A̶̲̥̅♏ a gifted artist
Weather signed or ₪ø̲̣̣ sign according to what I gathered from the statement Mtech is try to defraud DV8!!!! Blinzy say so ma number 07033166159 or ma pin 236FA150 A̶̲̥̅♏ a gifted artist ₪ø̲̣̣ dull me
na wa o
I do wonder if people like Blinkzy do have a brain. The question here is that “is Waconzy truly signed EXCLUSIVELY to another content provider”? If yes, then he and his management are thieves and should be told so to their face.
i hope thenetng would stay in the middle and not report this news from a biased point of view. Waconzy has spoken, MTech has given a rebuttal, then over to Waconzy.
This IS an eye opener for every Nigeria artist…The Dv8 should know the right thing to do in this situation…Nigeria communication company using artist song as caller tunes normally have a Data Base Account(DBA) for every artist whose song is signed and uploaded to their server for downloading and copying by Their respective subscribers and end users,Meaning that the number of songs downloaded by subscribers in Nigeria is view-able and access-able by the artist representative or contracted Company as applicable to Mtech and DV8 in this case…i dont want Wacomzy to be cheated and neither do i want Dv8 and Mtech to regret doing business with waconzy…The quick way to resolve this issue is for Dv8 to ask for the signatories document that established the caller tune contract between Mtech and the communication company in question and the Data Base Downloading Account for wacomzy since the song ‘i celebrate’ has been on used.. God bless Nigeria ARTISTs…For more free consultation and advice, am reacheable on 07064738414
Hope the whole problem is resolved amicably, cos it’s better to jaw jaw than to war war. N.B, for established and emerging artists, i’m a freelance writer, and also hav got de gift of de garbs in song writing, especiall Hip-Hop and R and B, very capable of writing songs with hit potentials, so any one that’s interested in working with a song writer should contact me on: 08038691766; comradeferdy@yahoo.com