Jermaine Dupri Drops $18 Million Royalty Lawsuit Against Sony Music

Jermaine Dupri has voluntarily dismissed his lawsuit against Sony Music, less than two months after filing it. Attorneys for the producer and his label, So So Def Recordings, told a judge on Friday, Aug. 28 that they had "resolved the matter," according to Billboard.

The dismissal was filed "without prejudice," meaning the claim could theoretically be refiled. No details of the resolution were made public.

Dupri and So So Def sued Sony Music in July, seeking $18 million in unpaid royalties. The suit alleged a "systemic pattern" of "contemptuous accounting practices" that underpaid royalties across what the filing described as a 32-year contractual and business relationship, as Billboard reported.

The dispute centred on records by some of the biggest names Dupri has worked with: Kris Kross, Xscape, Mariah Carey and Usher, according to Music Business Worldwide and Variety. Among the specific claims, Dupri said he was owed more than $2 million for Kris Kross's first two albums, including their 1992 debut Totally Krossed Out.

Dupri founded So So Def in 1993 as a joint venture with Columbia Records and Sony. The lawsuit said the contract between Dupri and Sony dated to 1992, and that accounting issues did not surface until 2023, as USA Today reported. Dupri is the son of former Columbia Records executive Michael Mauldin.

The lawsuit lasted less than two months from filing to dismissal. Royalty disputes between labels and producers are not uncommon — royalties are the payments owed to rights holders each time a record is sold or streamed — but few reach nine-figure claims or name artists of this calibre before being quietly walked back.

Whether the "without prejudice" dismissal signals a closed chapter or a pause before further action is not yet known. Neither Dupri's representatives nor Sony Music have publicly commented beyond the court filing.