Dionne Warwick has filed a lawsuit towards an artist rights agency, accusing the corporate of stealing “tens of millions of {dollars} in royalty revenue.”
Artist Rights Enforcement Corp. first sued Warwick in December, alleging they have been owed “lots of of 1000’s, if not tens of millions, of {dollars}” for work recovering the singer’s royalties. Their clearance of the “Stroll On By” pattern included in Doja Cat’s chart-topping “Paint the City Crimson” was talked about as a worthwhile transaction from which they haven’t been paid by Warwick.
On Monday, Warwick’s attorneys filed a countersuit, accusing AREC of being a “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothes” that solely claims to assist artists “combat to make your music yours once more.” In response to the singer’s group, AREC was “cloaking itself in skilled credibility whereas concealing its personal self-interest.”
Pitchfork has reached out to each Warwick’s representatives and AREC for additional remark.
Warwick first acquired concerned with AREC in 2001, when she wanted assist recovering royalties owed to her from early recordings primarily distributed by Scepter Data. That yr, Warwick signed a one-page contract with AREC, which acknowledged that she can be entitled to “an ongoing fifty (50%) % of all sums and property that are recovered.” The declare experiences that Warwick was not represented by a lawyer on the time.
In response to the countersuit, from 2002 via 2025, AREC collected and deposited into its personal checking account “a 50% share of something and all the pieces that flowed on account of her inventive output from 1962 to 2001”—an quantity reportedly unknown to Warwick. It wasn’t till September 2025, Warwick’s go well with alleges, that she sought assist from the Davis Agency, which reportedly requested an entire set of information pertaining to Warwick from Gabin Ruben, Chief Government Officer at AREC.
The grievance alleges the paperwork despatched again didn’t adequately replicate the work the 23 years of service AREC offered to Warwick. In response, the Davis Agency despatched a termination letter to AREC with a listing of calls for, together with that AREC present copies of all royalty statements regarding Warwick and that AREC now not settle for funds on her behalf.
In response to the countersuit, AREC’s response to the termination discover was their 2025 lawsuit towards Warwick. “Quite than addressing the cheap calls for made by Ms. Warwick’s counsel or providing any justification for its quite a few defalcations, AREC as a substitute selected to provoke this litigation towards Ms. Warwick,” the counterclaim alleges.
The counterclaim additionally consists of a number of different complaints, together with breach of fiduciary obligation, fraud by omission, and interference with potential enterprise relations. “While you strip away the phantasm manufactured by AREC and expose the lie,” Warwick’s attorneys write, “AREC’s efforts have been at greatest nothing greater than administrative in nature, or actions that music attorneys routinely carry out for an hourly payment.”
Warwick is presently engaged on her remaining album, DWuets. The initiatives options duets with Cynthia Erivo, Kehlani, and extra high-profile artists. The primary single, “Ocean within the Desert,” arrives on March 20.
