Post Malone has officially settled the lawsuit over his song “Circles,” just as it was supposed to go to trial yesterday (March 21). Back in 2019, another musician, Tyler Armes, claimed that he wrote most of the No. 1 hit, including the melody. However, he was only offered five percent in publishing royalties, per The Guardian.
“I was beside him giving input – I was not just someone hanging out in the room,” Armes said. He also added that any negotiations for a higher rate were disregarded by Malone’s manager and team.
The following year, he officially sued the rapper, noting that he wanted proper credit as a co-writer and to receive past and future royalties. Malone wound up countersuing.
“It is an age-old story in the music business that when a song earns the type of runaway success that ‘Circles’ has garnered, an individual will come out of the woodwork, falsely claim to take credit for the song, and demand unwarranted and unearned windfall profits from the song,” Malone’s filing said.
The last development in the case found Judge Otis D. Wright refusing to dismiss the case last year, citing that a jury might be able to find that Armes “shared equal control in the session, making nonhierarchical contributions to a unitary whole.”
Official terms of Malone and Armes’ settlement are undisclosed at this moment.