JYP Entertainment, the Korean music conglomerate behind K-pop sensation Stray Kids, is suing an upstart DIY distributor for allegedly uploading a pirated recording to streaming services.
The Wednesday (Nov. 4) lawsuit, obtained by Billboard, focuses on the June solo track “back to life” by Stray Kids member HAN. JYP Entertainment (JYPE) is accusing OneSync Music of re-uploading a version of the song taken from YouTube in order to “profit from the track performed by HAN and stolen from JYPE.”
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According to the lawsuit, JYPE first put out “back to life” on YouTube via a prerelease music video in May. Just days later, it appeared on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube under the artist profile “yungzzz,” scrubbed of JYPE’s original copyright management data.
JYPE says it determined from YouTube metadata that the recording was put on streaming services by Hitmaker Music Group, an indie distributor that operates in partnership with Warner’s Atlantic Records and 10K Projects. JYPE says it then got in touch with Hitmaker, whose lawyers allegedly identified a man named Miles Gaines as the owner of the “yungzzz” distribution account.
Gaines is a Los Angeles-based rapper and founder of OneSync, a DIY distributor that launched this year. JYPE says Gaines and OneSync are responsible for posting the stolen HAN track: “Defendants knew that they (or ‘yungzzz’) did not author, create, perform on, or own the sound recording, and knew that they had unlawfully reproduced it from JYPE’s prerelease,” reads Wednesday’s lawsuit.
JYPE is now seeking financial damages from both Gaines and OneSync for copyright infringement and violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which makes it illegal to remove authorship watermarks from music. Hitmaker is not accused of any wrongdoing.
In a statement to Billboard, Gaines said the “back to life” recording was submitted to OneSync by a third party. “I was unaware of the upload, and the recording has since been removed,” says Gaines. “We are reviewing the underlying account and submission records to better understand how this occurred.”
Gaines adds, “OneSync takes copyright protection and the rights of artists and copyright holders seriously. Our distribution operations incorporate multiple copyright review and screening measures designed to identify potentially unauthorized content.” He says OneSync will “cooperate through the appropriate legal process.”
