Swizz Beatz and Timbaland have hauled short-form music video app Triller into court, with the pair of artists alleging Triller must pay them $28 million after acquiring Verzuz, their livestreaming rap-battle show.
The duo founded the popular Verzuz virtual battle series in March 2020, then less than a year later agreed to sell it to Triller for undisclosed terms. Swizz and Timbaland received equity in Triller, part of which they said would be allocated among 43 artists who had appeared on Verzuz, including John Legend, Alicia Keys, 2 Chainz, Rick Ross, Too $hort, Patti LaBelle and Gucci Mane.
According to the lawsuit, after Triller failed to make a large payment to Swizz and Timbaland in January 2022, the company agreed to a settlement requiring Triller to pay them $18 million by March 20, with $1 million a month for the 10 months following. Triller has not made any of those promised payments, the suit alleges.
“To date, Defendants have failed and refused to make any payment to [Swizz Beatz and Timbaland] of the past due sums due and owing,” according to the lawsuit, filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Reps for Triller did not respond to a request for comment.
In a statement in March 2021 after they sold Verzuz to Triller, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland said, “This is a momentous occasion not only for Verzuz and Triller but the music business as a whole. By putting Verzuz in the Triller Network ecosystem and expanding the Verzuz brand to be side by side with the powerful Triller app, we will be able to continue to grow and evolve the music business as a whole, as we have been doing.”
Separately, Triller has been accused by multiple creators of failing to make promised payments under its announced $14 million program with 300 Black influencers to create content for the app, the Washington Post reported earlier this month.
