Did Davido Casually Give Out $1 Million to Bright Chimezie for Inspiring His Song “With You” ft. Omah Lay?
Let’s Talk Facts, Not Facebook Fiction.
A Facebook post recently went viral claiming Davido paid Bright Chimezie $1 million and gave him 40% of the royalties for “With You” ft. Omah Lay, while keeping just 10% for himself.
Before we all shout “001 for life,” let’s calmly examine what’s legally accurate and what’s pure social media fantasy. Because in this industry, facts matter more than vibes.
1. Who Deserves the Publishing?
The song With You interpolates the melody of Ndi Arabanko, a composition by ND Stanley Nnorom, not Bright Chimezie.
Interpolation means Davido and his team recreated the melody — they didn’t sample the audio but copied a musical part. That makes ND Stanley Nnorom the only person legally entitled to publishing royalties, not Bright Chimezie.
2. What About “Because of English”?
Davido publicly said he was “inspired” by Bright Chimezie’s Because of English.
But here’s the truth:
There is no musical or lyrical connection between With You and Because of English.
Inspiration alone does not entitle anyone to earnings on a split sheet — if it did, we’d all be owing percentages to Fela, Bob Marley, and Brenda Fassie. In music law, being inspired by someone doesn’t create a legal obligation. We are all inspired by someone, somewhere.
Therefore, Bright Chimezie is not legally entitled to mechanical or publishing royalties.
Anything Davido offers him is purely benevolence, not obligation.
3. Let’s Talk Real Royalty Splits
If you believe Davido gave Bright Chimezie 40%, Omah Lay 50%, and kept just 10% — ask yourself:
What does Tempoe (the producer) get?
What does Yung Alpha (the songwriter) get?
What about Columbia Records UK, the label releasing the song?
First, understand that there are two types of percentages given out in a song:
Publishing Rights
Mechanical Rights
(I’ve explained the difference before — check my older posts.)
Publishing Rights
Publishing royalties are usually split 50/50 between:
Writer’s Share – goes directly to credited songwriters and composers
Publisher’s Share – goes to whoever owns the publishing rights (which can be the artist, a publishing company, or the label)
Performers only benefit from publishing if they are also credited as writers.
In this case:
Yung Alpha (Writer), Davido (Co-writer), Omah Lay (Co-writer), and Tempoe (Producer) are credited composers.
Davido & Omah Lay are also the performers.
Mechanical Rights
Mechanical royalties are shared based on agreements.
But under standard industry practice, producers are entitled to 3–5% of mechanical royalties. That means Davido doesn’t have the final say on who gets what percentage — not for publishing, and not for mechanical rights either.
Final Thoughts:
Davido may be generous — and yes, he often gives flowers to legends — but we must separate PR storytelling from actual music business structures.
If it was your song, and you paid the producer, funded the release, and signed to a major label, would you casually give away 90% just because of “inspiration”?
Think am well.
Let’s educate, not just echo.
