An arrangement that comes after many allegations of the record label owing money to its artists.
Bad Boy Records founder Sean “Diddy” Combs reassigned publishing rights to artists and songwriters who helped the label become the powerhouse it is today.
A source confirmed the news to Variety on Monday. The artists included in this reassignment are Notorious B.I.G’s estate, Faith Evans, Ma$e, the Lox, 112 and other unspecified creators. Variety states that the assets are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, though the specific details weren’t available.
The assets increased dramatically in value when the music catalogs of various artists struck nine-figure deals when they were sold or partially sold. A source told Variety Combs received many multi-million dollar offers for Bad Boy’s publishing catalog, all of which Combs declined.
According to the source, most, not all, of the recipients have been located and contacted. The recipients that have been contacted have signed the necessary paperwork.
Ma$e, a multi platinum-selling Bad Boy rapper, often called out Combs for the money he was allegedly owed. Ma$e said in 2020 that Combs refused his $2 million offer for Ma$e’s publishing.
Last week, Cam’ron leaked the news of the publishing arrangement in an Instagram post.
“[Ma$e] just got his publishing back from Puff. Just finished the paper work for that yesterday,” the post read.
The source told Variety that Combs sees the publishing deal as part of the broader goal to promote the economic empowerment of Black artists and culture.
Combs’ upcoming album, “The L.O.V.E. Album: Off the Grid,” with features from Swae Lee, Mary J. Blige, Justin Bieber and others, will drop on Sept. 15.