Jermaine Dupri drops lawsuit alleging $18 million in unpaid royalties tied to Mariah Carey and Usher albums

Jermaine Dupri has withdrawn a lawsuit in which he claimed he was owed about $18 million in unpaid royalties connected to albums by Mariah Carey and Usher, according to Billboard. The case was filed and then dropped within a period of less than two months, according to the report, ending the dispute before it reached the stage of a final ruling on the merits.

Dupri, a long-time music producer and executive, had alleged that Sony Music owed him millions in royalties tied to the Carey and Usher catalog. The complaint framed the issue as royalty underpayment, seeking damages on that basis, Billboard reported.

Billboard reported that the lawsuit was dropped on terms that were not detailed in the publication’s account, and it did not specify whether the withdrawal was voluntary, pursuant to a settlement, or for other procedural reasons. The report also did not indicate what Sony Music’s position was in the litigation at the time it was discontinued.

The dispute involved a business area that can carry significant stakes for recording artists, producers, and rights holders: the accounting and distribution of royalties. Royalty calculations can involve multiple layers of rights and agreements, including publishing and recording contracts, mechanical and performance rights allocations, and other contractual provisions that determine what share flows to which parties.

For the broader music industry, the quick turn from filing to withdrawal highlights the practical pressure on rights claims in court, where parties can face document production burdens, legal costs, and the risk of public exposure of contractual and accounting details. A dropped case also leaves open the question of whether the underlying accounting or contractual interpretation that prompted the claim was resolved outside of court.

Publicly, neither the report nor the available record in this package described any specific next steps, such as a refiled action, a new accounting demand, or an administrative proceeding. With the lawsuit withdrawn, the immediate path forward for Dupri’s royalty-related position would depend on whether any separate contractual or business process continues outside the courts.

As of publication, the record does not provide the docket status of the withdrawn action or the procedural posture that led to its discontinuation. Further developments, if any, would likely depend on court filings in the case record and any statements made by the parties or their representatives.