The rapper and business mogul has been sued by a company which collaborated with him on the release of his perfume range, Gold Jay Z. They claim Jay Z didn’t keep his side of the deal.
Parlux Fragrances filed a lawsuit against Jay Z in the Manhattan Supreme Court, with the papers claiming the star failed to to promote his own signature fragrance. Reports claim the rapper was supposed to make six promotional appearances since the release of the fragrance in 2013, none of which he made.
In the documents, Parlux lawyer Anthony Viola said the company worked with Jacob the Jeweler to create five prototypes bottles which had solid gold caps and gold drizzled on the exterior which cost a staggering $20,000 each.
He said in the papers: ‘Mr. Carter rejected all of them and kept the prototype’.
And that was not the only thing he kept – the rapper also kept his guaranteed $2 million up-front royalty fee, docs claim.
Parlux claims the perfume was an initial success but Jay Z’s lack of commitment caused interest in the product to drop.
It stated that ‘in the fragrance industry, it is virtually impossible to sustain the success of a celebrity fragrance’ without both celebrity promotional appearance.
The company also accuses the rapper of not developing follow up scents to keep fans interested.
According to TMZ, the company expected to make about $50 million over two years but is now losing money.
The company is now demanding the court make Jay Z pay back the $2 million up front royalty and give back 3000,000 shares, void their contract and then wants at least $18 million in damages.
According to NY Times
“Sales of Gold Jay Z have declined considerably because of Jay Z’s and his teams lack of interest in supporting and promoting his own brand,” according to the new $18 million suit filed by Perfumania Holdings Inc.
Gold Jay Z was the best selling celebrity fragrance a year after its launch in 2014, ousting David Beckham‘s aftershave by eight to one.
But sales tanked last year from a projected $35 million to $6.1 million because the rapper was too busy with other projects to focus on the fragrance, the Manhattan civil suit says.
Jay Z refused to appear on “Good Morning America,” turned down a cover story for Women’s Wear Daily and an event at Macy’s to promote the men’s scent, according to court papers.
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