Singer Nomcebo Zikode threatens legal action, claiming she was never paid for the song that became a global hit during the pandemic. she took to social media on Sunday threatening legal action against Open Mic Productions, the label that recorded Jerusalema in late 2019.
She wrote in an emotional statement via her twitter page “My voice and lyrics have transcended globally, but I still await what is due to me. “I have not been paid a cent by the label for Jerusalema despite the song’s global success. I have been ridiculed, with efforts to marginalise my contribution. The continued love and support from the fans of Jerusalema has been my strength and anchor during this difficult time,” she added.
“I, as a female artist, can’t stay silent any more; the matter is now with my lawyers.”
Jerusalema, recorded with DJ Master KG, became one of the most popular songs of 2020 and a soundtrack of the pandemic. It reached No 1 in Belgium, Romania, the Netherlands, South Africa and Switzerland. It reached No 4 on Billboard’s world digital song sales chart, went triple platinum in Italy and double platinum in Spain.
On YouTube the song has over 420m views while the remix featuring Nigerian artist Burna boy had more than 21m views.
In a statement Open Mic Productions admitted the artist had not been paid for the song owing to a contractual disagreement.
“We can confirm that during the creation of the song that Master KG (the main artist) and Nomcebo Zikode (the featured artist) agreed on sharing 50/50 of Master KG’s earnings,” it read.
“The featured artist’s agreement, which reflected an equal split between the two artists, was drafted last year, November, for both parties to sign. Nomcebo Zikode through her legal team reviewed the contract and proposed for a higher percentage.”
We hope this claims get settled
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