VP Scores Partial Win In Etana’s Royalties Lawsuit

A New York judge has dismissed nine of Etana’s fourteen claims in the breach of contract and copyright infringement lawsuit she filed against her former label VP Records, but he has given the Jamaican Reggae singer two weeks to amend her complaint.

The decision, which was handed down on Friday, December 30, was laid out in a 26-page Opinion and Court Order, obtained by DancehallMag.  

“While joyous and buoyant rhythms underlie much of [Etana’s] music, this case sounds in much harsher tones,” US District Court Judge Gregory H. Woods wrote in his decision.  

The case concerns four contracts—a recording agreement with VP, under which Etana released four albums between the years 2007 and 2014, an additional recording agreement with VP, which she signed in 2014 after delivering all four albums, a songwriter agreement with Greensleeves Publishing Ltd (GPL), which was signed in mid-2008, and a co-publishing and administration agreement with GPL, which was signed in 2014.  VP acquired Greensleeves for US$6.2 million in 2008, according to Billboard.

Etana, whose real name is Shauna McKenzie-Morris, and Free Mind Music LLC, a company that she partly owns, have accused VP and GPL of breaching the four contracts after they allegedly failed to pay her royalties, and other monies allegedly due to her.   In particular, the singer has alleged that despite delivering the four albums required under the first recording agreement and VP having recouped its advances and expenses associated with the deal, the record company has stopped paying royalties for the albums since March 2020.

The I Am Not Afraid singer, in an amended complaint filed in April 2022, had also made ten non-contract claims against VP and GPL for copyright infringement (Claim No. 5), fraud (6), unlawful appropriation and unjust enrichment (7), breach of fiduciary duty (8), conversion (9), tortious interference (10), and failure to provide accounting (11).  The two-time Grammy-nominated singer and her company also sought a declaratory judgment (12), the imposition of a constructive trust upon VP (13), and a permanent injunction (14) against the record company.

VP and GPL did not move to dismiss the four contract claims, but they, on May 24, 2022, sought to strike the ten non-contract claims from the matter. 

On Friday (December 30, 2022), after arguments were submitted by both sides on the motion, nine of the non-contract claims were dismissed by Judge Woods, because, according to him, they were not “plausibly stated.”   

Judge Woods did not dismiss the allegations of fraud against VP and GPL.

But he dismissed the claim of copyright infringement, stating that “the complaint fails to clearly identify McKenzie-Morris’s works that have been registered with the Copyright Office.” 

The judge also dismissed the claims of unjust enrichment and conversion, saying that the “claims are preempted” by the Copyright Act. 

The tortious interference claim was dismissed because Etana and her company “failed to sufficiently plead the elements of that claim,” Woods ruled.

The causes of action in relation to accounting and the imposition of a collective trust were dismissed because “Plaintiffs have failed to plead the existence of a fiduciary duty.”

“Finally, the Court will not grant Plaintiffs either a declaratory judgment or a permanent injunction. Both declaratory judgments and permanent injunctions are forms of relief, not independent causes of action,” the judge continued in the order.

DancehallMag has reached out to Etana and VP Records for comment on this story.

Etana is being represented by Miami Entertainment Law Group, while VP and GPL are being represented by Fox Rothschild LLP.

This was VP and GPL’s second motion to dismiss since the matter was initially filed in January 2022.  The record company’s earlier motion to dismiss had been denied in April 2022 after Etana filed her first amended complaint in the case, in a bid to remedy issues from her original complaint.

In his order last Friday, Judge Woods gave Etana the opportunity to file a second amended complaint “to address the deficiencies identified in this order no later than 14 days from the date of this order.”

Alternatively, she may proceed with the five remaining claims, without filing a second amended complaint.

In 2008, VP released Etana’s debut album The Strong One, which featured her breakout single Wrong Address, her biggest solo hit I Am Not Afraid, and her hit collab with Alborosie, Blessing. 

Three more albums followed on VP, namely Free Expressions (2011), Better Tomorrow (2013), and I Rise (2014), which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart.

Under her own Free Mind Music label, she then released Reggae Forever (2018), which peaked at No. 1 on the Reggae Albums chart, Dimensions EP (2019), Gemini (2020), and Pamoja (2021). 

Reggae Forever and Pamoja earned Etana two Grammy Award nominations for Best Reggae Album.