Dionne Warwick is a singer and actress who, over the course of her long career, has won a total of six Grammys. The “Walk on By” singer has also received many prestigious honors for her work, including but not limited to, being inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That being said, she has had a very successful career.
In 2002, Warwick signed deal with Artists Rights Enforcement Corporation, a company that works with artists for legal representation regarding their work and protecting their rights. According to Pitchfork, Artists Rights filed a lawsuit on December 15 against Warwick. They claim that she backed out of deal, allegedly causing them to lose “hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars” for work they did in recovering her royalties. They cite in the lawsuit that, allegedly, a large sum of the royalties they are suing for come from the company’s negotiation of terms and payment for the sample of “Walk on By” in Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red.”
Artists Rights allege that this September, Warwick sought to end her deal with the company so she could directly receive royalties, which they argue is in violation of her contract. They detail in the lawsuit that she is set to receive royalties from Sony, Rhino, and the British copyright PPL. The company’s goal is to receive its proposed owed amount of money from Warwick’s royalty deals and compensation with interest for missed payments, from the time following her attempt to the end her contract until settlement. As of now, this lawsuit is in the early stages, so not much is known aside from what is detailed in the company’s lawsuit.
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