NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) – Zync Music Group, LLC/Zync Music, Inc. (ZYNC), which has workplaces situated in Nashville, Los Angeles, London and New York, filed a lawsuit on Monday (Might 13) towards New York-based Spherical Hill Music Royalty Fund II LP (Spherical Hill Music/RHM) in the USA District Court docket for the Southern District of New York.
The Grievance, obtained by Music Enterprise Worldwide (MBW), accuses RHM, led by co-founder and Chief Government Officer (CEO) Joshua Gross, of “egregious and quite a few breaches” of their three way partnership (JV) settlement, which was terminated in 2022.
The Grievance alleges that RHM, underneath the route of Gruss, mismanaged belongings and didn’t appropriately ship the administration companies to which RHM had agreed to contribute to their JV. It additionally alleges that RHM has failed and refused to pay over $5 million due ZYNC, willfully infringed the ZYNC trademark, engaged in bullying, wrongfully retained three way partnership belongings, and continued to take advantage of these belongings with out compensation to or consent from ZYNC. The Grievance outlines quite a few breaches of the events’ settlement by Spherical Hill Music, together with its failure to correctly account to ZYNC, gross misstatement of revenue and bills, and unwarranted withholding of funds on account of ZYNC.
For over 20 years, ZYNC has constructed a globally revered, female-led music publishing, licensing, and illustration company, repping over 300 artists, using 15 folks, and procuring over $100 million in licensing offers for ZYNC shoppers. The corporate is well-known throughout the leisure business for its innovation in third-party music licensing, inventive prowess, and important observe report in fostering careers, bringing publicity and revenue to many frontline acts and rising artists. ZYNC has additionally been a inventive synch licensing arm for a lot of profitable impartial music corporations.
In 2017, RHM bought ZYNC’s belongings and entered right into a joint tenancy settlement with ZYNC. Beneath the joint association, with the ZYNC co-founders and co-CEOs Marisa Baldi and Sanne Hagelsten heading up the ZYNC and RHM mixed synch workforce, RHM aimed to bolster its synch operations and capitalize on Zync’s repute as curators of cutting-edge music. In 2019, Baldi additionally assumed the position of RHM’s Chief Artistic Officer (CCO).
Based on the eight-count Grievance, “This motion is meant to redress RHM’s egregious and quite a few breaches of its joint tenancy settlement with ZYNC, together with RHM’s flagrant failure to correctly or well timed account to ZYNC thereunder, RHM’s gross misstatement of the joint tenancy’s revenue and bills within the restricted accountings that had been supplied, and RHM’s unwarranted and dangerous religion withholding of, and failure to pay, hundreds of thousands of {dollars} unequivocally on account of ZYNC pursuant to the events’ settlement, and to place a cease to the bullying and mistreatment perpetrated by RHM and its senior management towards ZYNC.”
The Grievance alleges breach of contract, breach of the covenant of excellent religion and truthful dealing, fraudulent inducement, conversion, unjust enrichment, trademark infringement, and unfair competitors. ZYNC additionally seeks an accounting to treatment RHM’s wrongful conversion and retention of income and belongings, together with the continued exploitation of three way partnership belongings and willful infringement of the ZYNC trademark.
A spokesperson for RHM launched a press release to MBW: “Spherical Hill Music denies the allegations within the Grievance filed at this time by ZYNC Music Group. The dispute between Spherical Hill and ZYNC Music Group is a business dispute over the valuation of their three way partnership partnership, which goes by a dissolution and topic to an appraisal course of. The specious and salacious allegations of the Grievance are being utilized by ZYNC as an alternative choice to the failing deserves of its case.”
CelebrityAccess has reached out to ZYNC and RHM for remark. Nothing has been acquired as of press time.