Nigerian-French Singer Asa Sues Joeboy Over Copyright Infringement, Demands 60% Publishing Split

Nigerian-French singer, Bukola Elemide, popularly known as Asa, has sued Joeboy on charges of copyright infringement. She is demanding a 60% publishing split for using her beat in his recently released single “Contour”.

The notice of the lawsuit was made public by Joeboy on his verified Instagram account.

According to the details of the notice dated 30th September, Asa accused Joeboy of sampling one of her beats, Composition, created by Alageu Michael Chidozie (P.K.A Tempoe) on September 22, 2020.

The legal counsel of the veteran singer has required Joeboy to take down the song from all digital streaming platforms within 24 hours, adding that Joeboy should compensate Asa with a payment of N300 million and a written apology.

The notice reads, in part, “It has been brought to our attention that your newly released song, Contour (the “Song”), infringes on the copyright of our Client, as recorded/captured in a musical composition (the “Composition”) which she created in a recording session, which took place on 22 September 2020, with the producer of the Song, Alageu Michael Chidozie (p.k.a Tempoe) in attendance.

“We hereby demand that you immediately remove the Song from all DSPs and any other platforms within twenty-four (24) hours of your receipt of this letter, with a written apology issued to our Client as well as halt any additional infringements of our Composition, including any other infringements.

“We also demand that the sum of N300,000,000 (Three Hundred Million Naira) as well as a 60% (sixty percent) publishing split on the Song be assigned to our Client.”

Joeboy, who seems to have found the whole charge ludicrous, took to his Instagram story to express his anger. The musician who felt disrespected by the whole notice claimed Asa wanted to exploit him because of his seemingly calm nature.

He said, “Cos I Dey always do love and light you think sey I be soft meat.”

A few hours after his first tweet, the obviously angry musician, tweeted again, calling on Asa to take him to court as the notice (24 hours) he was given had elapsed.

“You said I have 24 hours ‚it’s been 48hours, do something.”

Veteran singer Asa is a pop indie and Afrobeat singer, who’s famous for her hit tracks like Bibanke, Jailer and Fire on the mountain amongst many others.

Asa is highly regarded as a music legend amongst the millennials and a few of the Gen Z whose music taste resonates with her genres of music.