Not a 'happy life' for Kiprich ... Artiste at odds with former management over song

... Artiste at odds with former management over song

Dancehall artiste KipRich says he is prepared to go to court to defend his creative rights after demands from his former management have surfaced.

The entertainer said he parted ways with Out A Road Records some two years ago, but said the company still wants to lay claims to monies made from songs released after the split.

In an interview with The STAR, KipRich explained that both parties decided to part ways after a breakdown in communication.

The entertainer says his former management group failed to honour their contract when they, in his opinion, did very little to promote music recorded by him under their tutelage.

He told The STAR that his music suffered greatly because of the lack of support and says he has had to work overtime to get his career up and running again.

"When unnu never a hear nothing from KipRich for that four years, that's what was happening. They weren't releasing any of the songs; the songs were just inside the studio nah do nothing," he said. "Because of everything that was happening, the CEO say him don't want to go any further and I decided the same thing also, and we just part ways."

He admitted that the 'split' was a mutual verbal agreement and said there was no official termination of the contract.

He, however, insisted that since the record company did not promote his music, the contract, in his view, was null and void.

The entertainer says everyone was satisfied with the split until a song he recorded while with Out A Road Records began gaining traction.

"They are saying the contract is still valid and they are supposed to get money and dem thing deh from the song (Happy Life), but they are only part-owners of the song," he said. "I am in dialogue with my lawyers already and they have the hard copy of the contract running through right now. I want them to draw up their hard copy as well and make we sort this out."

Contract still viable

However Out A Road Records' attorney, Robert Young, said as far as he knows, the contract with KipRich is still viable.

He then explained that even if KipRich's claims about his client not promoting his music were true, there were other ways KipRich could have gone about things.

"Out A Road has an exclusive recording agreement with, KipRich which means under the terms of the agreement, KipRich should only be recording with Out A Road. Any recordings made under that agreement are owned by Out A Road Records, so Happy Life, the master recording, is owned by Out A Road Records," he said.

Young said that means the label is the sole entity that can distribute the song to the public.

"What KipRich has done is that he has allowed that recording to be utilised by third parties without accounting to my client and that is in breach of the recording deal, and it is in breach of the copyright law," he said. "As it relates to his statement about them amicably parting ways, I do not have those instructions from my client, and even if that were the case, as per the agreement, it should be in writing and I have no evidence of that."