Danity Kane’s Aubrey O’Day Says Diddy’s Reassigning Publishing Rights To Bad Boy Artists Comes At A Major Cost

While promoting his new album, The Love Album: Off the Grid, music mogul Diddy announced that he planned on reassigning publishing rights to select Bad Boy Records artists. Following the announcement, singer Aubrey O’Day, a part of Bad Boy girl group Danity Kane, claimed the offered deal to her and her former groupmates comes with strings attached.

According to Bossip, Diddy appeared on The Breakfast Club when he shared his plans to give back publishing rights to his former artists.

The New York native said the decision stemmed from his journey and was years in the making.

“This actually was done two years ago,” he shared. “It was more of me just evolving as a businessman, you know, a person that really wants change in the world.”

Diddy added the news “is just now coming out because it took time to finalize everything. But this was during the time that I was holding the Grammys to task. I was also getting major offers for the catalog during the [acquisition] frenzy back then.”

O’Day talked about the new arrangement while on the Only Stans podcast and shared the particulars of the agreement, Complex reported.

“I have to release him for any claims or wrongdoings or actions prior to the date of the release,” she explained on the show. “I have to sign an NDA that I will never disparage Puff, Bad Boy, Janice Combs, Justin Combs Music, EMI, or Sony ever in public.”

O’Day revealed she only learned the details of the new deal a few months ago when other former Bad Boy artists also received calls about the publishing rights of their music. She also shared that per the deal, she would gain around $800-900 in royalties, which is a far cry from the estimated $48 million Danity Kane garnered under Bad Boy.

“This is just some measly streaming money in order to stay hushed on Puff,” O’Day said.

She broke down the deal further, explaining its alleged pitfalls.

“This is the honest-to-God agreement of what I’m being offered: a few hundred dollars to sign away my rights to ever tell the story of what I went through ever again,” O’Day said, adding she could earn more money by reuniting with the other Danity Kane members to discuss their experiences at the label in a documentary or via other projects about being a Bad Boy Records artist.

The singer also blamed MTV and its parent company’s streamer, Paramount+. She feels the networks should have taken advantage of nostalgia opportunities for Danity Kane. O’Day accused the company of never airing reruns of Diddy’s Making the Band, which featured the girl group, and it’s not available to stream on Paramount+.

“They don’t play [Making the Band] in reruns, so we can’t even get the hype of ‘Oh hey, I remember this,” she said. “They’re cult classics; let me hire them for something.'”

Despite her hesitations about the new deal, O’Day said only two of the five members of Danity Kane didn’t sign the agreement.

“At the end of the day, we’re all just willing to turn a blind eye,” she said. “Diddy is just literally known as a guy that doesn’t pay his artists, and it’s funny and then you move on and you like something that he did on TikTok ’cause he’s funny. But for people that worked for six years of their life and an entered an industry where somebody made, what, $48 million and we didn’t even see a penny of that? We were in thongs and five-inch heels for years of our lives on stage, and not any of it did we see.”

Vibe reported the former reality star isn’t the only ex-Bad Boy Records artist to speak out about Diddy’s deal. Rapper Mark Curry said he would rather receive a seven-figure payout than the rights to his publishing, noting they’ve likely decreased in value.

“Diddy gave the publishing back… So what,” Curry wrote in an Instagram post along with a video. “It has no value… I want him to give me a million cash and then I can plan the rest of my life out well.”

Curry also revealed he received his publishing rights “a long time ago.”

In the clip, he called Diddy’s gesture hallowing and disrespectful.

“Ever had somebody owe you 50 dollars.. when you needed it back.. they didn’t pay you.. then by the time they do pay you.. the 50 dollars doesn’t mean the same as it did when you needed it,” Curry said in the video. “That’s how I feel… I wanted that when it was making money.. not after it’s all gone.. what I’ma do with that? In fact.. it’s an insult.”