Chocolate City has dragged Brymo to court over N20 million invested in him. According to the management, Brymo only yielded N3 million before breaching his contract.
As reported by PremiumTimes:
“In a court document deposed at the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court, Brymo (the defendant) accused his former label of short-changing him, saying he never received any advance as agreed in his contract for the development of the album Son of A Carpenter.
“The plaintiff (Chocolate City) on many occasions told the defendant that it would give him a release from the contract and then changed its mind,” Brymo said.
“The defendant was never paid any royalties on the album Son of A Carpenter nor was he ever given a stated amount of the monies expended by them for the album.
“An email dated 14th May 2013 from the defendant clearly stated that the defendant is owed the sum of N925, 555.83 for the album Son of A Carpenter.”
Brymo also accused his former label of failing to employ a manager for him, transferring one they earlier gave to him to another artiste, and forcing him to single-handedly employ and pay his own manager.
“The defendant never provided a platform for it to release another album, as it did not have the means to do so,” said Brymo.
“It is based on the breach that the defendant wants to be released from the contract so he can continue with his career independent of the label.”
The label claims it paid for, on the singer’s behalf, every recording cost it authorzed and for which a prior approcal was sought and obtained by the singer.
Chocolate City’s deposition before the court stated that:
“It is a notorious fact in Nigeria music industry that most artists will fritter away the approved budget if same is handed over to them without producing any commercially and technically satisfactory Master recordings,”
“The artists are mostly not business inclined.
“The plaintiff avers that it has advanced and expended almost N20 million on the defendant but has not recoup (sic) up to N3 million.”
The label also accused Brymo of failure to actualise his career potential due to inability to “follow simple instructions”, insubordination, and active/passive promotion of Indian hemp which caused “serious damages to his brand and that of the plaintiff and other artists in the stable of the plaintiff”.
“The defendant’s active and passive promotion of drugs/marijuana included posting of pictures of Indian hemp/marijuana on his Twitter handle, Facebook or Instagram,” the label said.
“It got so bad that no reputable company was ready or willing to give him an endorsement deal, thereby deny (sic) himself and the plaintiff good revenue.
“In fact, a major telecommunication company in Nigeria suddenly pulled out of an endorsement deal worth N20 million which the plaintiff was negotiating for the defendant and which would have earned the plaintiff about N10 million.”
However, Chocolate City is asking for N100 million in damages while Brymo’s lawyers want the court to strike out the case because it lacked enough backing.
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