Music

Phyno’s “I’m A Fan” Trouble Shows the Need for Legal Agreements

Posted on by Culture Custodian
Phyno vs Pia Mia is why we need to involve lawyers in all music business dealings

Two weeks ago, Pia Mia released her track, I’m A Fan. The parallels between her track and a song Phyno had released in 2016 were clear and she earned the ire of Nigerians who felt she’d jacked the track from the Beast from the East.

There was silence from both ends before a media report suggesting Phyno had cut the song first but in failing to fulfil the commitments stemming from that lost his rights to the track prompted the rapper into discrediting them. He also promised a statement from his team clearing the air.

Yesterday, courtesy of a statement via Bobby Taylor Company, DeCarlo who was the songwriter behind the record revealed that Pia Mia’s version of I’m a Fan is the only authorized version. He said:

“I wrote the original demo of “I’m A Fan” and pitched it to various artists. I worked with Pia Mia and Jeremih on the track, and their song is the only version authorized”

With DeCarlo’s revelation, the promised statement from Phyno’s team came swiftly in the form of screenshots from conversations between Phyno and the songwriter which bring the singer’s credibility into question and suggests he may gave Phyno the approval to release the record before then selling or giving the record to Pia Mia.

 

The greater issue this story has created is the need for better music practice in Nigeria- a credits system needs to be formalized so as to ensure Producers, Engineers and Songwriters can have their work tracked by the public. This would reduce the room for unclarity and vagueness. Furthermore, it shows the importance of putting everything in writing and drawing up legal agreements. Without the screenshots off Phyno’s phone which could easily have been misplaced if his phone had gotten stolen or anything of the sort, the public would have remained in the dark on how exactly this whole debacle truly went down.