Lil Wayne sold his masters for 100 million and now is being sued by his manager

[keone]

ayne is deep in the hole with his ex-manager to the tune of more than $20 mil ... at least according to a new lawsuit.

According to docs, obtained by TMZ, Ronald Sweeney claims Wayne hired him in 2005 to help renegotiate his deal with Cash Money. You'll recall Weezy beefed with Cash Money honcho Birdman over how much Cash Money paid out to Wayne's label, Young Money.

Long story short ... Lil Wayne settled that Cash Money lawsuit in May 2018, but Sweeney now claims he only got a few payments from that settlement ... and they were nowhere near what he says his full cut should be.

Then there's this ... in the suit, filed by attorney Ed McPherson, Sweeney says back in May 2018, Lil Wayne asked him to fire Cortez Bryant -- Weezy's manager and childhood friend -- over a conflict of interest in a legal dispute involving Drake and Cash Money.

Sweeney says he did so, and took over Bryant's duties and got Wayne to give him a pay bump from 10% to 17% commission. But, Sweeney claims Bryant and Mack Maine then conspired to drive a wedge between Wayne and Sweeney, which allegedly worked. Sweeney says Wayne fired him in September 2018.

Then, this past June, Lil Wayne sold his masters to Universal Music Group for more than $100 million. Sweeney doesn't seem to be asking for any money from that deal ... but brings it up seemingly to point out Wayne has the cash to pay him what he claims he's owed.

We've reached out to Lil Wayne for comment, so far no word back

 

[jasonblacc]

How did he get them?

 

[DirtyCake]

Never sell your masters.

 

[The Plutonian]

Fuck lil Wayne bro. Maybe Trump will float him a few dollars. Fuck you Weezy!

 

[ViCiouS]

How did he get them?

exactly.... Wayne never owned his masters (according to the contract included in his lawsuit vs Bird)



weezy getting rolled to pay what he owes with the pr and smoke universal was pushing to cover for their highway robbery

 

[CoTtOnMoUf]

 

[easy_b]

Something is a little fishy about this and I am talking about Lil Wayne owning his masters

 

[guyver]

Never sell your masters.

I don't know anything about the business of music, but this seems to be happening alot in the last year or so with senior/well respected artists. I've always heard you don't sell your masters too, but there has to be more to the stories to make artists do this.

 

[ViCiouS]

I don't know anything about the business of music, but this seems to be happening alot in the last year or so with senior/well respected artists. I've always heard you don't sell your masters too, but there has to be more to the stories to make artists do this.

they sold publishing or shares of their publishing - not masters

very very vERY few artists own their masters

 

[HNIC]

they sold publishing or shares of their publishing - not masters

very very vERY few artists own their masters

Just a question
If you don't own your publishing, what good is owning your masters?

HNIC

 

[Mrfreddygoodbud]

Fuck lil Wayne bro. Maybe Trump will float him a few dollars. Fuck you Weezy!

Weezy is a lost soul but you cant be mad at him at all,

dude was mad young and raise by a dysfunctional faggot,

he never had parents to really help him make the right life choices.

if he had loving parents who truly loved their melanated selves and instilled that in him, his lyrics wouldve been

in the direction of a kendrick lamar.

that boy was traumatized growing up, and is totatally

depended on the music industry.

Ill tell you this, he mightve just saved his life selling those masters.

Ill tell you this, he better invest that shit wisely or he wont be living in that dope ass gated community home on a private secure island...

if he was smart he would sell the home now.. in ten years that shit will eat away at his money like locust on grass..

you gotta be bringing in millions, and he aint doing no shows like that...

as an artist, selling your masters is pretty much selling

a vital organ.

EDIT:

Ok I just read it was publishing... Yea his masters are worth

more than a hundred Milly..

I think bob dylan sold his for four hundred milly....

this plandemic fuckin with erebody money

 

[guyver]

they sold publishing or shares of their publishing - not masters

very very vERY few artists own their masters

You are correct it was publishing i was thinking of, but I thought the same or similar logic applied as far as selling publishing. I was under the impression publishing was just as coveted.it was always implied that publishing was something you would want to get more of and not necessarily give away.

Either action seems to go against the fundamentals of what we've always heard. Unless I'm completely misunderstanding what both are and how income is derived from them.

 

[ViCiouS]

Just a question
If you don't own your publishing, what good is owning your masters?

HNIC

2 seperate things
publishing is residuals from the music being used / played etc and sales and sometimes copyright of the music

masters are the copyright and ownership of the recording... this is what controls licensing of
1. samples,
2. sync rights: commercials, movies, tv etc etc
3. album reissues, media distribution etc

Eg. Prince owned masters and had pub on his last album
he got a pub check for sales/streams and another for composition & writing and another for movie / media etc use

he also got master royalties from sales/streams, he negotiates to license the music and collects all fees for any commercial use

 

[ViCiouS]

You are correct it was publishing i was thinking of, but I thought the same or similar logic applied as far as selling publishing. I was under the impression publishing was just as coveted.it was always implied that publishing was something you would want to get more of and not necessarily give away.

Either action seems to go against the fundamentals of what we've always heard. Unless I'm completely misunderstanding what both are and how income is derived from them.

easiest example I can think of : Bing Crosby -White Christmas

Bing's label owns the masters of that record
Irving Berling owns all publishing of White Christmas -lyric & composition

Irving gets paid from anyone singing the song or whenever any musician plays or uses the melody in a recording or tries to sell their performance

Bing's label only gets paid for sales and licensing of Bing's recording

 

[keone]

2 seperate things
publishing is residuals from the music being used / played etc and sales and sometimes copyright of the music

masters are the copyright and ownership of the recording... this is what controls licensing of
1. samples,
2. sync rights: commercials, movies, tv etc etc
3. album reissues, media distribution etc

Eg. Prince owned masters and had pub on his last album
he got a pub check for sales/streams and another for composition & writing and another for movie / media etc use

he also got master royalties from sales/streams, he negotiates to license the music and collects all fees for any commercial use

people dont know the difference lol

 

[b-stro]

Streaming got everyone selling their masters off smfh

 

[Day_Carver]

easiest example I can think of : Bing Crosby -White Christmas

Bing's label owns the masters of that record
Irving Berling owns all publishing of White Christmas -lyric & composition

Irving gets paid from anyone singing the song or whenever any musician plays or uses the melody in a recording or tries to sell their performance

Bing's label only gets paid for sales and licensing of Bing's recording

So Wayne doesn't own or control anything

 

[Helico-pterFunk]

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Lil Wayne reportedly sued by ex-manager for over $20 million

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[Helico-pterFunk]

Lil Wayne - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Main articles: Lil Wayne albums discography, singles, and videography


See also: Hot Boys discography and Young Money discography






Studio albums

• Tha Block Is Hot (1999)
• Lights Out (2000)
• 500 Degreez (2002)
• Tha Carter (2004)
• Tha Carter II (2005)
• Tha Carter III (2008)
• Rebirth (2010)
• I Am Not a Human Being (2010)
• Tha Carter IV (2011)
• I Am Not a Human Being II (2013)
• Free Weezy Album (2015)
• Tha Carter V (2018)
• Funeral (2020)
• I Am Not a Human Being III (2021)[153]

 

[guyver]

easiest example I can think of : Bing Crosby -White Christmas

Bing's label owns the masters of that record
Irving Berling owns all publishing of White Christmas -lyric & composition

Irving gets paid from anyone singing the song or whenever any musician plays or uses the melody in a recording or tries to sell their performance

Bing's label only gets paid for sales and licensing of Bing's recording

Thanks for the breakdown. Thats more or less what I thought. That does bring me back to publishing or masters why would you give up either. Unless you believe you are getting paid more than what it is worth or you wouldn't be able to monetize it in your lifetime, why give up either?

I'm not expecting you to answer as much as thinking out loud.i could somewhat understand doing this if you are in need of money, but and maybe im wrong I can't see money being an issue for all of the people that have been selling their publishing of late.

 

[34real]

They were bragging about Baby & Cashmoney owns their Masters,they do not own their masters but Master P does/did I'm not sure cause he did a second deal and retired the next day you just never know.

You can count on your hands and toes how many artist own their masters and I believe Master P was the only rapper besides LLcoolJ which Russell helped that to happen before they booted his ass from DefJam

 

[christop]

I thought Wayne got his masters back along with full ownership of young money in the lawsuit and money birdman owed a few years back. Also wayne learned from the best lol.

 

[Day_Carver]

I thought Wayne got his masters back along with full ownership of young money in the lawsuit and money birdman owed a few years back. Also wayne learned from the best lol.

Clearly wayne didn't get anything back

 

[christop]

Clearly wayne didn't get anything back

Ok I'm just saying I thought I recalled him winning them back along with young money and some past payments.

 

[Day_Carver]

Ok I'm just saying I thought I recalled him winning them back along with young money and some past payments.

I was being sarcastic but yes he didnt get anything like they were trying to report. There is a lot of fugaziness going on with Wayne and cash money and others that are involved....

 

[playahaitian]

Never sell your masters.

that is the new hotness

apparently its a tax thing

 

[TheFuser]

"Oh now it's okay to kill Baby,
Niggas looked at me crazy like I really killed a baby.
Salute Ross 'cause the message was pure.
He see what I see when you see Wayne on tour.
Flash without the fire
Another multi-platinum rapper trapped and can't retire.
Niggas get exposed, I see the cracks and I'm the liar?"

 

[Chitownheadbusa]

This.. His legal troubles, lawsuits etc.... Explains a lot... When it pertains to his Trump cosign. Him being more open to sitting around folks who talk about BLM etc.

 

[ViCiouS]

This.. His legal troubles, lawsuits etc.... Explains a lot... When it pertains to his Trump cosign. Him being more open to sitting around folks who talk about BLM etc.

2016

 

[shaddyvillethug]

Slim owns everything

 

[yasky777]

Doesn’t JZ own his masters and publishing?

 

[playahaitian]

​

 

[Dirtylakerie]

 

[Helico-pterFunk]

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