Roc-A-Fella Sues Damon Dash Over “Reasonable Doubt” NFT Plan

A high-tech wrinkle on an old debate

Damon Dash
Damon Dash attends Damon Dash Celebrates the Launch of Dame Dash Studios at DDS33 on April 3, 2019 in Burbank, California.
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Damon Dash Studios

At this point, it seems like virtually anything and everything can be turned into an NFT, and — given enough time — perhaps everything will. I’m not sure if that will signal the beginning of the Singularity, the culmination of the Human Instrumentality Project or a tipping point in climate change. It could be all of these things; it could be none of them. The latest high-profile NFT plan involves selling Jay-Z’s album Reasonable Doubt as an NFT — but, according to a new report, that recently hit a few snags.

Writing at Consequence of Sound, Abby Jones reports that Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Damon Dash was behind the effort to sell the Reasonable Doubt NFT at auction. This has led to some pushback, however, with the label he co-founded suing him to block the sale.

“Roc-A-Fella says Dash cannot legally sell Reasonable Doubt as an NFT because the rights to the album belong to the label,” writes Jones. According to the article, one planned auction has already been called off.

As the article notes, this wouldn’t be the first album to see release as an NFT. Both Kings of Leon and Grimes have released music via this medium. This planned auction, however, sparks the usual questions about the impact of NFTs and throws in questions about who holds the rights to an artist’s music — a perennial concern even before the heyday of the NFT.

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