Why Bad Bunny Makes Only 1% Of The Royalties On One Of His Biggest Songs

Summary

• Bad Bunny's hit song "Safaera" was removed from Spotify due to issues with sample clearance, and he only earns 1% of the royalties from it.
• Missy Elliott was eventually given a quarter of the song's royalties.
• Bad Bunny faced more legal action for the unauthorized use of three DJ Playero songs in "Safaera".

Bad Bunny has solidified himself as one of the biggest musicians of the 2020s. His rise to fame has been meteoric since he arrived on the scene in the late 2010s, thanks to an impressive list of collaborations and hit singles, and a colorful personal life that has made him a tabloid fixture around the globe (we're still not sure what's going on with him and Kendall Jenner).

Bad Bunny, born Benito Ocasio Martinez, has been the most streamed artist on Spotify for three consecutive years (2020-2022), which is a feat that's no doubt bolstered his sizable net worth. That being said, Bad Bunny earns only 1% of the royalties on one of his most popular songs, due to a legal oversight and a heated exchange between his collaborators on Twitter.

Bad Bunny Was Forced To Give Up Royalties To "Safaera" Because He Never Cleared The Song's Samples

Bad Bunny dropped three different projects in 2020, but "Safaera" was the song that most connected with listeners. The song has eight different beat switches, five different rap flows, and guest appearances from Nengo Flow as well as the veteran duo Jowell & Randy.

Bad Bunny's music was streamed 8.3 billion times on Spotify in 2020, and according to BBC, "Safaera" was responsible for 407 million streams alone. It continues to be one of his highest-streamed songs, but the artist sees almost no money from it.

This is because none of the samples in the song were cleared. "Safaera" was produced by Tainy and DJ Orma, and neither went through the proper channels to make sure they could use the beat from the iconic 2001 Missy Elliott single "Get Ur Freak On" among countless others.

The oversight led to immediate action from Elliott's legal team. "Safaera" was removed from Spotify on May 14, 2020, with Spotify attributing the removal to issues with sample clearance issues. "Safaera" was eventually put back on streaming, and Missy Elliott was eventually given a quarter of the song's royalties, according to Rolling Stone.

The credits for "Safaera" have been altered to reflect these songwriting and sample changes. The songwriting is credited to Benito Martinez (Bad Bunny), Joel Ortiz (Jowell), Randy Ortiz (Randy), Edwin Vazquez (Nengo Flow) and Missy Elliott.

The first four artists get 1% of the royalties each, while Missy Elliott gets 25%. The rest of the royalties are given to Timothy Mosley (Timbaland), who co-wrote and produced "Get Ur Freak On", and the publishers of the other songs that are sampled.

Missy Elliott Was Criticized By Bad Bunny Collaborator Jowell For Making Most Of The Money From "Safaera"

The public was unaware of the legal action taken against "Safaera" until Jowell appeared on the YouTube channel MoluscoTV in May 2022. During the interview, the rapper explained that his royalties had been whittled down to 1%, and the same had been the case for Bad Bunny and his musical partner, Randy. He also voiced dissatisfaction with the fact that Missy Elliott was making most of the money from the song.

"Had that song been an ordinary song from anyone out there like the one we put out, no one would have gotten into it," Jowell told MoluscoTV. "That song was f**ked over because it was so successful.... I owned between 15 to 30% [originally]."

Twitter users criticized Jowell for complaining about the legal arrangement, and his remarks led to a tense exchange with the "Get Ur Freak On" rapper. She decided to clear the air after reading what she felt was an inaccurate account of what happened. She tweeted:

"Sadly you mislead all these people to make them think I have 99%. Now I don’t talk business on line (sic) because that’s messy but now we are here I have 25% and there is (sic) 6 other samples & 15 other writers on this one song. They got percentage also… And by the way I do care.. this is very irresponsible…. I hope you clear this..”

Jowell responded to Elliott and made it clear that he did not have an issue with her. "Missy, something got lost in translation cuz I never said u take 99%. That's impossible, there are a whole bunch of other peoples in there," he wrote. "I'm cool with my 1%. Excuse me, nothing but love from Puerto Rico to you. We are both in business. Let’s chill and enjoy what we have. Peace."

Bad Bunny Was Sued For $150K For The "Unauthorized Incorporation" Of 3 Other Songs In "Safaera"

While there was seemingly peace reached between Jowell and Missy Elliott, Bad Bunny faced more legal action for the song "Safaera". According to Billboard, AOM Music Inc. filed a lawsuit against Bunny for the "unauthorized incorporation" of the DJ Playero songs "Besa Tu Cuerpo", "Chocha Con Bicho" and "Sigan Bailando." AOM filed the suit in September 2021 and demanded $150,000 in statutory damages.

The lawsuit was actually spawned by the Missy Elliott controversy. The lawsuit filed by AOM Music Inc. pointed to the decision to list Elliott as a songwriter as proof that Bad Bunny knew better than to use DJ Playero songs without proper credit:

"Defendants were well aware of the need to 'clear' the various third-party works sampled on 'Safaera' by obtaining licenses to each, as demonstrated by the fact that, for example, Melissa Elliott p/k/a Missy Elliot is credited as a writer on ‘Safaera’ due to its sampling of her hit song 'Get Ur Freak On'."

A settlement was drafted and agreed upon in January 2023. Bad Bunny's legal team and AOM Music Inc. issued a joint statement to UPROXX that made it clear both parties were tentatively satisfied:

“A draft of a settlement agreement has been circulated, but the parties expect this process to take some time since the settlement is complex and will require the review and approval of multiple corporate and individual parties."

Bad Bunny has not spoken about the "Safaera" controversy specifically, but he has been the subject of other sampling lawsuits since.

CNBC reported that he was sued by his former girlfriend in March 2023 for sampling her voice on the song "Dos Mil 16", and in October 2023, he was named in a suit alongside other Puerto Rican artists for sampling the 1989 song "Fish Market." Neither case has been publicly settled.