Controversial record label Ambitiouz Entertainment suffered yet another legal blow after losing a court appeal against music duo Blaq Diamond on Friday.
The label was also ordered to pay costs of the court application by the Johannesburg High Court.
Even though the loss marks a third court defeat conceded by the record label in a fight to release the talented duo from its stable, it remains to be seen if Blaq Diamond will be able to publish their music on their YouTube channel going forward.
In July, Blaq Diamond successfully interdicted Ambitiouz Entertainment and YouTube from removing their music on the video sharing site and other digital platforms.
After seeing victory in court, the group could not release new music after their previous record label appealed the ruling. The appeal was heard in court on Friday, with the duo being represented by legal eagle advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi.
The appeal judgment read: “The application for leave to appeal is dismissed. The applicant is to pay the costs of the application for leave to appeal.”
The duo’s lawyer Jade Naidoo said: “Congratulations to my client Blaq Diamond for winning against Ambitiouz Entertainment for the third time! Ambitiouz’s leave to appeal is dismissed with costs! Round three in the bag.”
Ambitiouz Entertainment was exposed by a number of its former musicians, including Malome Vector, Fifi Cooper, Intaba Yase Dubai, and Blaq Diamond, for being exploitive and frustrating them after leaving the label by removing their music from streaming sites and claiming copyright of their songs.
Blaq Diamond, which is made up of Siphelele Dunywa and Ndumiso Mdletshe, filed an urgent court application at the court in October last year after the record label removed their hit song Qoma, featuring Big Zulu, from YouTube, claiming copyright of the song.
In court papers filed in response, Ambitiouz Entertainment boss Kgosi Mahumapelo said the musicians created a problem when they breached the agreement they signed with his stable. He said the sensations, which were relatively obscure, signed a record deal with his stable in 2017.
He said the label had dedicated time, energy, resources and substantial amount of capital to initiate the group’s launch with the expectation of receiving a return on investment when they released three albums.
“The applicants, Blaq Diamond, did not fulfil their obligations to release these albums. Instead they terminated their agreements with the second respondents in an unlawful manner. Furthermore, without waiting for the court ruling confirming the valid termination of the agreement, they proceeded to enter into a new agreement with a different record label,” the court papers read.
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