Timbaland and Swizz Beatz sold Verzuz to Triller — and now they say Triller didn’t pay

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Timbaland and Swizz Beatz are suing Triller after the short-form video platform allegedly failed to make a payment for the acquisition of their live music face-off series.

Triller hasn't followed through on any of its required payments according to the music producing pair. According to the lawsuit, which was filed in a Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday, Triller allegedly failed to pay Timbaland and Swizz Beatz in January and later agreed to a settlement that would require it to pay $18 million in March and $1 million per month for the next The payments haven't come through.

The filing states that the defendants have failed and refused to make any payments to the two men. It was reported by The Washington Post.

Verzuz was created in 2020 to pit two artists and their music against one another. As a result of the acquisition of the series, the duo joined the management team at Triller and became shareholders in the company. Some of the artists who appeared on Verzuz were split up by Timbaland and Swizz Beatz.

Triller claimed in an email that it paid Timbaland and Swizz Beatz $50 million in cash and stock in order to frame the lawsuit as a personal dispute between the two musicians. Timbaland and Swizz Beatz have been the greatest beneficiaries of Triller to date, according to the company. An email signature indicated that the message was sent by someone with the first name Ryan, but Triller wouldn't give a name.

The Washington Post reported earlier this month that other missing payments from the TikTok rival, with Triller failing to deliver consistent monthly funds promised to Black creators. Some creators are strapped for cash as they try to meet Triller's strict output goals According to The Post, Maverick Baker, who signed on for TrillerTV deals in February of 2021, hasn't received payment yet.

Triller initially sent a statement from a person.

This is truly unfortunate and we hope it is nothing more than a misunderstanding driven by lawyers. We do not wish to air our dirty laundry in the press, but we have paid Swizz and Tim millions in cash and in stock. No one has benefited as much from Triller to-date. Triller has helped fuel VERZUZ to new heights - making it the global cultural phenomenon it is today. We hope to resolve this amicably and quickly, and truly hope it’s just a misunderstanding. If we are forced to defend it, we are more than optimistic the truth and facts are on our side.

We got a longer statement from a different email address after pressing Triller to attribute the statement to one of their spokespeople.

First and Foremost this is not a feud over Verzuz. It is personal to Swizz and Tim. Swizz and Tim have Personally been the greatest beneficiaries of Triller to date, having been paid over $50 million in cash and stock personally, already.

This is nothing more than a performance dispute on personal payments to Swizz and Tim. On top of the $50 million they were paid, They have annual obligations, which if met, and no breach has occurred, allows them to an annual payment. Only one payment of $10m was in question.

We don’t believe they have met the thresholds for thar payment, including, but not limited to, failure to disclose obligations to labels, and we have been trying to resolve it amicably.It is unfortunate they elected to elevate this to the press and a “legal shakedown” and to further claim we now also owe them payment for one year from now. That has its own set of deliverables which include, but are not limited to, delivery of a set number of Verzuz for 2022. We hope this was just over zealous lawyers jumping the gun.

Either this will settle or a legal venue will weigh the evidence and determine if Swizz and Tim are entitled to what are effectively “earn out performance payments”, if they did or didn’t perform and if they did or didn’t properly disclose. This does not Affect Verzuz operations or Triller’s ownership of Verzuz.Swizz and Tim failed to disclose both trademark and label issues which are far in excess of $50 million dollars.

Our counter-claim will be forthcoming and will be in excess of $50 million in damages for, among other things, false reps and warranties, failure to disclose label payments owed and failure to disclose certain trademark issues, among othersIf this does proceed in court we look forward to putting on our case.

The name Ryan was included in the email signature.