Wakadinali sue social media influencer for copyright infringement
Famous Gengetone boy group Wakadinali have sued a popular social media influencer by the name of Brian Mutinda on copyright infringement claims.
This comes after the influencer used their song Geri Inengi for an online advertisement gig commissioned by the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) under the online marketing agency ‘Squad Digital’ without the group’s approval.
Speaking via Twitter, the group said that they have resorted to filing a lawsuit since attempts to resolve the matter with the influencer have been futile.
“It is with great sadness that we bring this to the public, our music has been infringed upon by some entities and we tried to resolve it privately but they refused to settle with us,” reads the statement on Twitter.
The group also shared a letter that their lawyer James T Makori had issued to the company prior to making a case against them.
Also read:
Is Eric Omondi ‘thirsty’ for followers or just drama?
Nonini sues Japanese company for copyright infringement
Copyright boss Mutua defends Diamond’s Kasarani performance
A month ago, the band was on the verge of striking a mega deal with famous Kenyan filmmaker Abel Mutua for the song Geri Inengi to be featured in the movie Click Click Bang.
In a recent interview, Mutua, who is currently riding high following the success of the movie, revealed that Wakadinali’s management wanted Sh 450,000 for a 30-second play for the viral song to be used as a soundtrack.
“I called Wakadinali, coz I wanted their song for Click Click Bang. They have a massive banger Geri Inengi but Wakadinali are under management. The thing with management lazima they follow rules. So they did the math and found for us to get 30 seconds of Geri Inengi for our film, would have cost us not less than 450k,” Mutua explained.
“It is actually true it cost that much to have a 30-second clip on my film. So imagine Hollywood which uses almost 10 popular songs. Of the most expensive element in film production is music. Let me tell you there is nothing more expensive. The moment you watch a movie in Hollywood and hear a song you know, believe me, money has been poured. You might find that in the total budget of $100 million, half of that has gone to securing music rights. It’s super expensive,” Mutua said.