Martin Garrix shocked EDM fans earlier this year when he announced he would be splitting with his label Spinnin’ Records, as well as his management firm MusicAllStars, which had served as home base for the young Dutch producer since he exploded to fame in 2013 with his breakout hit “Animals.”
Garrix is now taking Spinnin’ Records label head and his former manager Eelko van Kooten to court, citing that Kooten had deceived him with “false and misleading information.” In the suit, Garrix claims that as a sixteen year old, inexperienced producer, Kooten tricked him into transferring the ownership rights of his music over to Spinnin’ Records, a decision he naturally regrets.
While Garrix cites a lack of experience in the music industry as the reason for turning over his music rights to the label, his lawyer in the case, Oktay Düzgün, declined to further elaborate on the details of the case, stating “I do not comment on here.” The suit alleges that Garrix was wrongfully coerced into signing away his rights to both the label and his management firm, stating “Only the interests of Van Kooten itself were optimally looked after in the contract(s).”
Through the lawsuit, Garrix hopes to reclaim the rights to his own music, but sadly he may have an uphill battle in front of him. It’s not the first case of an artist losing control of their intellectual properties, and the courts are less likely to be swayed by his story of inexperienced youth then they would be by a contractual agreement.
