JERUSALEMA vocalist Nomcebo Zikode is tired of being taken advantage of!
She announced that she is taking record label, Open Mic Productions, to court after it allegedly took down her Grammy-nominated single, Bayethe, with Wouter Kellerman and Zakes Bantwini, from digital streaming platform Spotify. They will be heading to court this afternoon, 14 December.
Bayethe was released in September and nominated for Best Global Performance at the Grammy Awards last month.
Nomcebo, who had previously accused the label of not paying her for her contribution to Master KG’s Jerusalema, alleges in the affidavit that Daily Sun has seen that Open Mic holds no copyright or other intellectual property rights in Bayethe.
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“As a result of the recording being removed from Spotify, and potentially from other platforms of which I am unaware, the second applicant and I have suffered and stand to suffer further harm, the extent of which will be difficult, if not impossible, to quantify,” read the document.
“Furthermore, I have a reasonable apprehension that the take-down request, along with other take-down requests of which I am unaware, or which the respondent may still issue, may have a bearing on the Grammy for which I have been nominated,” it continued.
In the affidavit, she asked that Open Mic put the song back on Spotify within 24 hours of the interim relief being granted.
“[The respondent] is ordered to advise Spotify, with a copy to the applicants, to reinstate the recording on the basis of the outcome of the interim relief, within 24 hours of the interim relief being granted,” it read.
Nomcebo said her team was working on a statement.
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Open Mic Productions’ spokesman Advocate Nkateko Maluleke declined to comment.
“We are not commenting at this stage,” he said.
Wouter Kellerman and his manager, Tholsi Pillay, said they could not comment on the matter.
“We’re not directly involved. The song is divided equally, so that’s how we are involved. However, we support her in every possible way. Other than that, we don’t know much besides what Nomcebo has told us,” they said.
