Jermaine Dupri Drops $18m Sony Lawsuit

Jermaine Dupri has dropped his $18 million royalty lawsuit against Sony Music Entertainment. So So Def Recordings, So So Def Productions, and Dupri filed a notice of voluntary dismissal on Friday, August 28, in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, according to a report by Music Business Worldwide.

The notice landed less than two months after the initial complaint and before Sony had formally responded to the allegations. It states the dismissal is without prejudice, meaning Dupri and his companies are free to bring the claims again in the future. Neither Dupri nor Sony has disclosed the terms of the resolution. The filing sets out no specific payment, timetable, or accounting remedy.

The Original Allegations

Dupri and his So So Def companies sued the major label on July 6. They alleged years of unpaid and underreported royalties on recordings by a roster of prominent artists. The lawsuit sought no less than $18 million, along with more than $10 million in interest, plus attorneys' fees.

The complaint stated that So-So Def had a 32-year contractual and business relationship with SME. The relationship dated to a label agreement signed on May 4, 1992.

Specific Claims in the Lawsuit

The suit contained several detailed allegations of underpayment. It claimed Sony never reported producer or override royalties on Kris Kross's first two albums, Totally Krossed Out (1992) and Da Bomb (1993), until 2023. The filing alleged more than $2.2 million remained owed on those records alone.

The complaint stated that SME attempted to conceal all Kris Kross royalties due Plaintiffs for over 20 years in a separate royalty accounting system unknown to Plaintiffs. It said royalty statements from 2023 and 2024 showed foreign sales of more than $30 million on the Kris Kross account.

Other specific claims included alleged underreported royalties for other major So So Def acts. The suit provided comparable figures for alleged discrepancies, including over $2.2 million owed for Kris Kross albums, over $960,000 in producer royalties underreported for Xscape's Hummin' Comin' At 'Cha (1993), and over $1 million withheld for Da Brat's Funkdafied (1994).

A separate claim centered on a So So Def Production Share account tied to Xscape's first two albums. The complaint said this account opened the period ending June 30, 2020, with a negative balance of $1,531,241.22. It argued this balance was unfathomable given both albums were certified platinum by the RIAA.

The filing stated the account generated more than $1 million in royalties between 2020 and 2024. None reached So So Def because Sony kept applying the negative balance. Dupri's lawyers argued those balances should have been nullified under Sony's Legacy Unrecouped Balance Program, announced in June 2021.

Broader Context and Sony's Response

The alleged discrepancies surfaced through a desk audit by accounting firm Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman in 2025. The parties signed a tolling agreement on November 1, 2025.

In a statement provided to Music Business Worldwide in July, a Sony Music spokesperson said the matter concerns a royalty accounting dispute the parties were actively engaged in attempting to resolve. This case highlights the complex fixtures of long-term label contracts.

According to the complaint, Dupri's recordings and production work have generated gross revenue of more than $200 million across the 32-year relationship with Sony. Dupri, a Grammy winner inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018, founded So So Def in 1993 through a joint venture with Sony and Columbia. So So Def has since moved its business elsewhere, striking a distribution deal with HYBE America in April 2025.

The dismissal makes Dupri's case the third royalty claim against Sony covered by Music Business Worldwide this year to end by agreement, with terms undisclosed. The band Lit settled its streaming royalty suit on July 7. East Los Angeles band Los Lobos settled a claim against Sony Music and its Milan imprint on August 21. Los Lobos had sought between $1.5 million and $2.75 million.

Sony has settled similar claims before, agreeing in 2020 to pay $12.7 million to end a class action brought by the estate of Rick Nelson over foreign streaming revenue.