Pop Smoke’s Label Sued By Reporter – Seeking $1.5 Million, Credit As A Writer, & Percentage Of Publishing Income

Pop Smoke’s Label Sued By Reporter – Seeking $1.5 Million, Credit As A Writer, & Percentage Of Publishing Income

Pop Smoke‘s record label has been hit with a lawsuit by a reporter who interviewed the rapper before his death and says that the label used audio from the interview for his posthumous album Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon. 

Victoria Inoyo has filed a lawsuit against Victor Victor Worldwide, stating that the interview that was done during Rolling Loud in December 2019 was stolen without permission.

She’s now asking for Victor Victor Worldwide to pay her $1.5 million dollars, and she has also registered a copyright for the interview’s audio earlier this year that protects her and Pop Smoke’s vocals from being used unauthorized.

In June of 2019, a rep from Pop Smoke‘s label Victor Victor Worldwide allegedly offered Victoria Inoyo $1 dollar to use the interview on the album, and she declined the offer.  Victoria Inoyo apparently tried to negotiate a better deal with with the label, but her lawyer and the label, could not come to an agreement.

Victoria Inoyo says that the label used 16 seconds of her interview, which makes up 12 percent of Pop Smoke’s “Tunnel Vision (Outro).”

Victoria Inoyo’s lawyer Andrew Williams says that the label knew that they did not have permission to use the audio for the track, but they used it anyway.

“The label knew that it did not have Ms. Inoyo’s permission to use the interview; yet, rather than negotiate with Ms. Inoyo in good-faith in order to obtain her permission to use the interview, the label inexcusably and unjustifiably used the interview and released the album and the song for commercial distribution in violation of, among other things, Ms. Inoyo’s copyrights and her intellectual property.”

Victoria Inoyo is suing for copyright infringement and unjust enrichment, and also would like credit as a writer on the posthumous album Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon.  She is also seeking to receive a percentage of the publishing income that was/continues to be earned from the album.

Pop Smoke’s debut studio album, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, was released posthumously in July 2020 and the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, and all 19 tracks from the album charted on the Billboard Hot 100.

Check out Victoria’s interview with Pop Smoke below:

https://youtu.be/8RTl9uPNUUY

What are your thoughts on Pop Smoke’s label being sued by a reporter for illegally using her interview? Let us know in the comments!