Zakes Bantwini who is now a grammy award-winner is still in a battle for ‘Osama’ remix royalties. Which has been going on for some time now.
This after he and his business associates contended over the song. And we all know that the musician is well-deserving of his royalties.
Nonetheless, until the matter is resolved and the truth is heard. We don’t know who’s wrong and who’s right.
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As we all know, Zakes Bantwini’s song Osama was already waving the charts locally and globally before it was even released officially.
The hitmaker is an international sensation because of the work he has put out over the years. Especially with his recent work which includes the hit banger.
As published by ZiMoja when the single dropped, it made waves across the country, winning Zakes Bantwini his first South African Music Award in 2022.
However, his win has created internal feuds and has rather turned into a damning case. Opened between the Grammy award-winning artist Zakes and his business associates.
As we speak, Zakes is currently in a legal battle to get royalties for his album Ghetto King. Along with the remix of his hit Osama featuring Kasango.
The musician has taken the distribution company Paradise Africa Distribution (PAD) to court for breaching their agreement. This is after they remixed his hit song Osama without his consent.
PAD released a remix of Osama by Peter Tong and Paul Roger, which they still promote on their platforms and can be streamed on Spotify, Apple Music, and iTunes.
Zakes is in dispute of this decision making and has therefore escalated the matter to the high court as reported by ZiMoja.
In an affidavit filed at the Johannesburg High Court in December 2022, the musician says he is also owed royalties by PAD.
Last year, the same company, PAD slapped Zakes with a R2.4 million lawsuit. For breach of contract and accused him of ‘double-dipping’.
After signing deals with two record labels PAD and Universal Music for his album, ‘Ghetto King’.
Apparently, Zakes Bantwini’s deal with Paradise Africa clashed with his Universal Music deal. Plus, his deal with PAD allowed them to sell his music internationally and not in Africa.
It also allowed service providers and other third parties to digitally exploit the album in all technical formats and products through the digital distribution.
”For this, PAD agreed to pay 50% net of the profit to Mayonie – Zakes Bantwini’s company. ZiMoja reached out to PAD, to no avail. Zakes Bantwini’s team says the matter is sub júdice. “Zakes doesn’t have any comment on this. The matter is with the high court at the moment.”