The Crush 40 musician and vocalist Johnny Gioeli is suing Sega of America for breach of contract, due to its use of the Sonic Adventure 2 song Live and Learn in “at least 25 video games”, as reported by Polygon (and supported by a court filing from earlier this month).
According to the musician, Sega does own the rights to the lyrics, having paid him $3000 for an as-yet-untitled song for Sonic Adventure 2 back in 2001, but has improperly asserted since then that it is the sole owner of the sound recording and musical composition through its use in other media without permission. This includes its appearance in games like Sonic X Shadow Generations, Sonic Frontiers, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Super Smash Bros for Wii U, Super Smash Bros Brawl, and more.
This is something Gioeli states he didn't learn about until recently, when he was contacted by a fan, and that he claims represents a breach of their initial agreement.
Gioeli's argument, as communicated through his legal representation, is that when he was creating the original song, Sega wasn't present at the recording, with his fellow Crush 40 member and Sega musician Jun Senoue remotely sending him demos of instrumental portions that he would later ended up revising the structure and arrangement for. Senoue would then re-record certain parts, before sending them back to Gioeli who would incorporate them into his ProTools session back at his studio. Gioeli states that no agreement was ever made to transfer the master rights as part of his contract. And, in addition to this, he also argues that because he himself has maintained the songwriting registration, he retains the rights to the song's musical composition.
This, he believes, entitles him to seek damages and restitution for "unjust enrichment", with his legal representation estimating damages to amount to "no less than $500,000" and the unpaid royalties to amount to another $500,000 or more.
In a statement to Polygon, Gioeli said in response to a request for comment: "I have no comment other than my desire to maintain the preservation of a long standing beautiful relationship with Sega. I do not want fans to draw conclusions or be disrupted from the beautiful memories we have made collectively with this music. I believe and hope we will come to a peaceful settlement that will be fair and just"
Notably, this filing doesn't relate to the song's use in the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 film, with Gioeli claiming earlier this year that he signed an agreement with Paramount in a statement to the independent publication Aftermath.