Kanye Says He Has The Money To Buy Back His Publishing From Sony But They Won't Sell

Kanye returned to social media last night, after a very brief hiatus, with a rant about a bunch of stupid shit.

He did make some interesting comments about his publishing, which Sony/ATV owns:

“I went to go buy my publishing from Sony/ATV and they said, ‘It’s $8 million [or] $9 million’ and when I went to buy it, they told me ‘No,’ I couldn’t buy my publishing,” he said. “I have the money to buy [back] my publishing. And they told me that I couldn’t buy my publishing…. It’s like the control.”

“Sony ATV told me I couldn’t buy my publishing [but] I got the money,” West reiterated. “So Big Jon [Platt], Marty [Bandier]….whoever is involved….I need my publishing…I got the money. I’m not gonna say the “S” word. I’m not Prince, I don’t need to write it on my face.”

While the contract between Sony and West is private, artists typically can't buy back their publishing whenever they want. Some deals do have reversion clauses, which can be exercised 20 years (or longer) after the deal is signed. Since the label usually gives the artist a big advance on the deal and shares with the artist publishing revenue, it doesn't make sense for them to give up publishing easily, even at a fair price.

Paul McCartney recently fought Sony/ATV for some of his Beatles publishing and reached a settlement.  But it's an extremely difficult legal battle, and one we doubt Kanye has the focus for.