T.I. is taking Cinq Music to court after the company allegedly violated the terms of their seven-figure deal for his masters.
The Atlanta hitmaker and the record label got into business together after he sold most of his catalog to Cinq Music Group in 2017. Tip agreed to sell master recordings of his ground-breaking titles [like his debut album Trap Muzik and other highly successful projects, including King, T.I. vs. TIP and Paper Trail] to Cinq in return for an option to buy back the masters later on. Now, the Grammy Award-winning rapper claims the label refused to honor the terms of their agreement.
According to a report Billboard published on Tuesday, April 28, the Atlanta native filed a lawsuit against Cinq Music Group after the "Let Em Know" rapper alleged they violated a key condition of their deal. T.I. said he only allowed the deal to go through because he and the record company agreed he could buy back his masters for $3 million. When the rapper tried to exercise his option in 2024, the record label allegedly tried to overcharge him by $50 million.
Cinq regretted that it had agreed to the [option terms], and, therefore … did everything it could to frustrate plaintiffs’ efforts to complete the purchase,” T.I.’s lawyer Robert Jacobs of Manatt Phelps & Phillips wrote. "Cinq’s departure from the contractual definition of Gross Receipts resulted in an exaggerated and inaccurate revenue-side starting point.”
T.I. believes Cinq Music attempted to “artificially inflate” the price of his masters after they realized one of Tip's "favorable terms" wasn't so favorable to them. The artist, born Clifford Harris, said the record label included a required provision that they must sell back his masters at a price that's determined by a formula: Cinq’s gross receipts between May 2023 and April 2024, minus all royalty payments owed to T.I. and his company, multiplied by 12. Cinq’s revenue from digital streaming providers was explicitly excluded.
Tip accused the record label of intentionally violating the company's own terms by including revenue from streaming to inflate the price of his masters. He argues that the label can't go back on their promised provisions now, no matter how much they may regret the terms. He also alleged that Cinq Music messed up the numbers while deducting his royalties to get more money. He claims they knowingly violated the terms to trigger a negotiation for a better price. As of this report, Cinq Music has not responded to the allegations.