WACONZY IN LEGAL BATTLE WITH MTECH

A legal battle over copyright claims seem to be brewing between popular Nigerian VAS company, MTECH and the management of popular singer, Waconzy,  DV8 Media, over claims of unpaid royalties to the singer by the company.

In a press release made available recently, DV8 media stated that royalty proceeds from the ‘I Celebrate’ album by Waconzy were being withheld by MTECH, who they claim have profited immensely from the sale of the singer’s tunes.

According to the statement, ‘It’s been over 6months (two quarters) and yet not even a kobo has been paid to dv8 media and instead of giving the real figures of caller tunes hits, MTECH decided to send a fraudulent report excluding the hits from (communications networks) Etisalat, Airtel and Starcomms claiming they that don’t have any record from the other telecommunications companies’.

‘DV8 media is a law abiding company and we are getting ready to take the matter to court. The money in question is not our primary concern. However this is a fight for justice and sanity in the caller tune business. We also advise Telecoms Company to withdraw the license of MTECH as they are a fraudulent company. We also advice artistes and record label owners not to work with such companies’.

However, in a swift response, MTech debunked claims made by Waconzy’s reps, saying that due to the artiste being signed to another content provider, the earlier agreement reached between both parties subsequently became void.

‘Yes (DV8) did indeed come to MTech Communications to sign Waconzy’s music to be used as caller ring back tonez via MTech’s relationship with operators’, an MTech spokesperson said.

‘However, on sending his agreement to the operators for verification and upload, an investigation was carried out and we were informed by MTN that Waconzy was already signed exclusively to another content provider through this same DV8 media and due to this, his contract with us became null & void and the operator refused to upload his tones under MTech.  MTech has not defrauded DV8 media and Waconzy is not signed to MTech’.