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*Oran “Juice” Jones was the very first R&B artist signed to Russell Simmons’ Def Jam Records back in the day. His song “The Rain” became a hit in 1986, peaking at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned him two Grammy nominations Jones released two more albums after his debut effort “Juice,” but failed to have significant follow-up success.
Fast-forward to 2018 and Jones claims Simmons and Universal Music failed to pay him royalties over the past 32 years. Most recently, in Will Smith’s 2017 film, “Suicide Squad,” Juice’s “The Rain” song was featured. According to thejasminesbrand.com, Jones was supposed to receive 15% of the music royalties, however, he claims he has yet to see any profit from Universal, nor Russell…yet.
Jones and Simmons both sent notarized letters to Universal Music, in an effort to convince them to cut the checks to the Juice.
Oran wrote in his letter:
“In 1986 I recorded, performed and co-wrote the song “The Rain” which was ultimately released on Def Jam Records in 1986. Russell Simmons and Vincent Bel brought me a song called “The Rain” that Mr. Bell had written. I recorded the song and Def Jam wanted to include it on my album. […] I really liked “The Rain” and felt that I could make it a strong single by re-writing it and making it stand out and sound more unique. Russel told me that i was welcome to, but that the budget on the album was spent and the cost would have to come out of my pocket.”
Jones continued:
“Mr. Simmons (who was my manager and Mr. Bell’s publisher and manager). Mr. Bel and myself agreed to a writing & publishing split to be 85% for Mr. Bell and 15% for myself. I have contacted Def Jam and Mr. Simmons multiple times since the release of the song, was assured many times that 15% of the copyright was owned by me, despite not having received any royalties. This entire time I have been trying to figure out where my royalties have been going and it wasn’t until recently that I discovered that the song was sampled on the Suicide Squad soundtrack. I was confused as to how it was cleared without my signature or permission. I have never entered into any publishing agreements in my career, so I know that my signature would have been required.”
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Apparently, Simmons finally answered Oran’s call, because included with the singer’s letter to Universal was a notarized letter from Russell that states:
“As the head of Def Jam in 1986, I signed the artist, Oran Juice Jones. I provided Mr. Jones with a song originally written by Vincent Bell entitled, “The Rain.” Oran accepted the song and subsequently wrote new lyrics and vocal melodies, which turned it into what I felt was a radio-friendly single.
Mr. Jones, Mr. Bell and myself entered into the agreement to split the writing & publishing on the song, such that Mr. Jones was to receive 15% of the copyright since inception. It has now become apparent that Mr. Jones did not receive the % ownership of copyright that he is so entitled to.
This is an error. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused in the execution of your use of the record. Please correct this discrepancy immediately and implement any adjustments and corrections in Mr. Jones’ favor as requires by the agreement described herein.”
Read both letters over at thejasminebrand.
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