Timbaland and Swizz Beatz Sold Versuz to Triller - And Now They Say Triller Didn't Pay

Timbaland and Swizz Beatz are suing Triller after the short-form video platform reportedly failed to pay them $28 million to acquire their live music face-off series, Verzuz.

The music-making duo claim that Triller has not followed through on any of its required payments since January. According to the lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday, Triller allegedly failed to pay Timbaland and Swizz Beatz in January and later agreed to a settlement that required him to pay $US$ in March. 18 was required. million and will have to pay $1 million every month. for the next 10 months. But it is believed that even those payments have not come.

“To date, the defendant [Triller] has failed and refused to pay any past dues and dues to Mosley [Timbaland] and Dean [Swizz Beetz], and the defendants are in default of their payment obligations under the agreement. Ongoing," the filing said. The lawsuit was first reported by The Washington Post.

Timbaland and Swizz created Verzuz in 2020 as a webcast that pits two artists and their music against each other. Triller acquired the chain last year, and as part of the deal, the two joined Triller's management team and also became shareholders in its parent company, Triller Networks. According to Billboard, Timbaland and Swizz Beatz split a portion of their equity stake among 46 other artists who appeared in Verses, including Alicia Keys, T-Pain, Rick Ross and John Legend.

In an email to The Verge, Triller claimed that he paid Timbaland and Swizz Beatz "$50 million in cash and stock" and attempted to frame the lawsuit as a personal dispute by the two musicians. The company also said that Timbaland and Swizz Beatz "have been Triller's biggest beneficiaries to date." Triller declined to provide a named spokesperson in an email to The Verge, but an email signature indicated the message was sent by someone with the first name Ryan.

Earlier this month, a report in The Washington Post revealed other missing payments from a TikTok rival, with Triller failing to deliver the consistent monthly funds it recruited to Black creators. This has reportedly made some creators run out of cash as they try to meet Triller's strict output targets. As The Post noted, other influencers who signed TrillerTV deals in February 2021, including Maverick Baker, still haven't received payments from the platform.

Triller initially sent this statement to The Verge from an unnamed spokesperson:

This is really unfortunate and we hope this is nothing but a misunderstanding inspired by the lawyers. We don't want to air our dirty laundry to the press, but we paid Swizz and Tim millions in cash and stock. Till date no one has benefited so much from the Triller. Triller has helped take VERZUZ to new heights - making it the global cultural phenomenon it is today. We hope to resolve this amicably and expeditiously, and really hope that this is just a misunderstanding. If we are forced to defend it, we are more truthful than optimistic and the facts are on our side.

After pressing Triller to attribute this statement to one of their spokespersons, we received an even longer description from a different email address entirely:

First and foremost this is no fuss over Verzuz. It's personal to Swizz and Tim. Swizz and Tim have personally been Triller's biggest beneficiaries to date, having already paid out more than $50 million in cash and stock individually.

This is nothing but a performance dispute over personal payments to Swizz and Tim. On top of the $50 million they were paid, they have annual obligations to allow them to be paid annually if they are met, and there have been no violations. Only one payment of $10m was in question.

We do not believe they have met the limitations of Thar Payments, including but not limited to failure to disclose obligations to the label, and we are attempting to resolve this amicably. It's unfortunate that they decided to bring this up to the press and claim "legal shutdown" and now we even pay them a year from now. It has its own set of deliverables which includes, but is not limited to, deliveries of a specified number of Verzuz for 2022. We hope it was just enthusiastic lawyers hurling guns.

Either that or a legal venue will weigh the evidence and determine whether Swizz and Tim are effectively entitled to "earn performance pay," if they performed or did not perform and if they did or did not properly disclose. This does not affect Verzuz's operations or Verzuz's ownership of Triller. Swizz and Tim both in disclosing trademark and label issues