Before deadmau5 was a household name, Joel Zimmerman was an aspiring Canadian producer in search of his big break. In 2006, Joel latched on to a Canadian label called Play Records. deadmau5 released music with Play for about a year before making the decision to move to a new label – Three Six Zero Group – with whom he remains with today.
While the divorce of deadmau5 and Play had once appeared to be relatively amicable, it’s seems as if the dust has only finally started settling. The artist is now seeking damages owed for violating digital music ownership laws in the amount of $10 million. Celebritynetworth.com estimated deadmau5’s current value to be just above $50 million.
Part of the separation agreement between Zimmerman and Play Records required the artist’s permission prior to the release of any remixed/edited music that had originally been published by Play. Now, deadmau5 claims that the record label failed to obtain his consent before sharing remixes.
The accusation stems from a breach of contract, violation of moral rights, and intentional trademark infringement. Nobody should be surprised that deadmau5 is fighting this. Frankly, we would have expected a couple more ‘0’s added to the end of the suit. You can read the legal filings here.