Ghanaian music whizz, Xlimkid, has accused fellow musician O’Kenneth of the Asakaa music group of sidelining his contribution to their recent joint ‘Pain in Glory’ music project.

According to sources close to Xlimkid, he is not a member of the group but collaborated with O’Kenneth for the ‘Pain in Glory’ EP. After over eight months of hard work by both contributing artists, O’Kenneth has taken sole credit for the project, which includes the popular song ‘Lonely Road.’ He is the only one who holds the rights and ownership of the song’s masters, marginalizing Xlimkid's involvement and contributions, and tagging him as just a featured artist from the distributor's standpoint instead of a co-owner.

O’Kenneth and his team have refused to share details and a copy of the contract signed between him and the distributor, promoting the project as primarily his own work. This has left Xlimkid in the dark about the details of paperwork and royalties. They claim that paying for the production makes them the owner of the masters. However, under copyright laws, paying for masters doesn’t make one the sole owner in collaboration projects unless both parties sign agreements to that effect. Even then, there is usually a studio advance or project advance from a label or distributor, and the masters are handled for a period of time.

“O’Kenneth and his team didn’t share any form of documents, no contracts, nothing. Xlimkid doesn't know the conversation between O’Kenneth and the record distributor. All the distributor said to Xlimkid's team was that he owns half of the masters, with O’Kenneth owning the rest. Xlimkid wasn’t captured on the rights to the projects. When he confronted O’Kenneth about the details of paperwork, masters, and royalties regarding the distribution, O’Kenneth told Xlimkid not to worry. Over months, he eventually stopped responding to his calls and text messages. When Xlimkid kept pushing to understand the conversations after waiting over nine months with no response, O’Kenneth and his team started tagging Xlimkid as disturbing and ungrateful.

Speaking to the music distributor about the contract, Xlimkid is credited as just a featured artist on the distribution platforms and not as a joint collaborator on paperwork, which Xlimkid wants fixed. However, O’Kenneth and his team show no interest in fixing this and instead decide not to answer or respond to any questions about the project both artists jointly did. The distributor disclosed that he owns 50% of the song’s masters and will receive royalties for ten years, while Xlimkid owns nothing.

Xlimkid’s camp has been demanding a copy of the contract for the past nine months and a joint meeting with the distributor and O’Kenneth's team, but to no avail. This lack of transparency has caused significant damage to Xlimkid, preventing him from knowing his rights and stance on the project and preventing labels interested in his co-collaborations from proceeding with their engagements since O’Kenneth and his team have given away the rights and masters without considering Xlimkid.

“We started demanding the contract for the past nine months and still have not received it. This has caused a lot of damage to the artist for not knowing his stance or his rights towards the projects they jointly made.”

“He took the project and didn’t consider Xlimkid from the beginning. When we asked for a joint meeting on production and cost sharing, he always said everything was in control. However, as what is being preached as a joint project, that’s not how it is. O’Kenneth went to run his own negotiations and engagements, which has strongly affected Xlimkid.”

Additionally, O’Kenneth’s actions have restricted Xlimkid’s ability to perform the song together. When the two are booked for a show, O’Kenneth reportedly claims that “Xlimkid is part of Asakaa Music and is either sick or unavailable,” further sidelining him for the event all by himself. It is only when the organizers reach out to Xlimkid via his social media handle DMs that he gets to know their intention.

Xlimkid’s camp asserts that O’Kenneth took control of the project and conducted the negotiations independently, having his sole video shoots, conversations, and all production work, though Xlimkid's team constantly reached out to know what the plan was so they could know the actual cost for a shared contribution. This has had a detrimental effect on Xlimkid as he was not given the rights to contribute financially.

Also, O’Kenneth and his team submitted for TVMAs as the owner and sole rights holder to the ‘Pain in Glory’ project, representing Xlimkid as a featured artist. Though Chatter House notified his team that the project was campaigned and promoted on all DSPs as a joint project, they still insisted that it was solely owned by O’Kenneth, leaving Xlimkid out of the conversation. It was only after Chatter House conducted their own research and understood it was a joint project by both artists that it was too late, preventing Xlimkid from being nominated in the Best New Artist category of TGMAs.

If O’Kenneth and his team strongly believe they haven’t sold anything or the project masters, why is sending a contract a problem? Why is it taking so much time? Why did they state Xlimkid as a featured artist instead of a collaborator or co-owner as the distributor claims?