{"id":2421,"slug":"boomplay-rightsholder-actions-dec2024","title":"Rightsholder actions against Boomplay over unpaid royalties, December 2024","source":"Complete Music Update and TurnTable Charts reporting on Sony Music's catalogue withdrawal from Boomplay","source_url":"https:\/\/completemusicupdate.com\/sony-pulls-catalogue-from-boomplay-as-sources-claim-streaming-platform-has-not-paid-royalties-since-april-2023\/","source_type":"trade","method":"Two trade outlets read directly for this dataset: Complete Music Update (10 December 2024) and TurnTable Charts (9 December 2024), the Nigerian trade title CMU credits as the source of the underlying claim. Both confirm the same core fact independently: on 9 December 2024, Sony Music withdrew its catalogue from Boomplay, a withdrawal that also removed music distributed through Sony's label-services arm The Orchard and its artist-direct arm AWAL, because those two operate under Sony rather than as separate rightsholders. This is recorded as one row, not three, to avoid implying three independent companies exited when one company acting through three brands did. 'alleged_unpaid_since' reproduces a sourced-but-unverified claim: both outlets attribute to sources, not to Boomplay or Sony directly, the statement that Boomplay had not reported or paid royalties since April 2023, with one outlet noting some claims of a backlog reaching back to 2021. Afrobeats Wire has not seen a statement, invoice or ledger establishing either date and reports both as claims, not as fact. Both outlets also report that other distributors were 'rumoured' to be withholding delivery to Boomplay over similar grievances, but neither names them, so no further row is added for that claim. Named titles both outlets report as removed or affected: Davido's Timeless, Wizkid's Made in Lagos, Tems' Born in the Wild, Lojay's LV N ATTN, Ruger's Pandemic EP and Simi's Lost and Found.","unit":"action","license":"Afrobeats Wire's compilation and analysis are licensed CC BY 4.0. Rights in the underlying source data remain with the source named above.","confidence":"medium","retrieved":"2026-08-24 01:39:55","n":1,"first_party":0,"columns":[{"key":"rightsholder","label":"Rightsholder","type":"text"},{"key":"action","label":"Action","type":"text"},{"key":"action_date","label":"Date","type":"text"},{"key":"alleged_unpaid_since","label":"Claimed unpaid since (sourced, unverified)","type":"text"},{"key":"titles_affected","label":"Named titles affected","type":"number"}],"rows":[{"rightsholder":"Sony Music, including its Orchard and AWAL distribution arms","action":"Withdrew entire catalogue from Boomplay","action_date":"2024-12-09","alleged_unpaid_since":"April 2023 (sourced claim, some accounts allege back to 2021)","titles_affected":6}]}