B.E. RELATIONS’ PUBLISHING statement regarding the unauthorized use of the song “Merci” by Mr. Wendy Duvert better Known by his Artist name, Wendyyy.
As the publisher of Yole Dérose and her late husband Ansy Dérose since March 2023, we have never received a request from Mr. Duvert to sample Mr and Mrs Derose’s song, “Merci”.
SAMPLING: For those unfamiliar with how sampling works, only the owner and publisher can give you permission to use their music, and they have the right to negotiate the terms of the agreement. If you’re trying to obtain a license for your “cover” song, you don’t need the publisher’s permission to obtain a license. You can obtain the license directly through the platform you use to release the song provided you keep all the original elements of song.
PERMISSION: We can assure you that Mr. Duvert nor his team secured any of that with us. We found out by receiving 3 notifications of a match only after the album was released. When we investigated it at the time, we found 4 copies: one on Distrokid, CDBaby, Latin Press, and on YouTube Music.
CREDITS: Ansy Dérose was listed as a featuring artist/performer, which means his estate does not receive royalties, because royalties are only issued to writers and composers. Yole Dérose was not even acknowledged in the credits; a pattern we have noticed with how the artist credits people.
THE REMOVAL: Once we verified everything with the estate, we decided to move forward with removing the song. We notified the stores and issued a takedown on YouTube on an unverified page, which we later learned to have belonged to the artist. It is important to note that we did not take his album down, nor do we have the power to do so. By law, we can only remove what we have rights to, and we follow the law.
It was the day the takedown took effect that Mr. Duvert finally reached out to us with a very apologetic email. His manager followed up with one as well. However, just as we were about to reply the next day (We operate regular business hours), we were tagged in a very inciting post stating that all measures were taken on Mr. Duvert’s part. This prompted his fans to swarm our business pages and start reporting the pages in an effort to take them down.
We still made the effort to reply to Mr. Duvert in the hopes that he would negotiate in good faith. He requested a phone call because he didn’t want to continue the conversation via email, but we were not able to honor his request as all parties involved were not available. We offered him the option to schedule a meeting on Monday, February 12th, which he has yet to respond to.
We understand that the truth may not always be as exciting as a rumor, but it is important, nonetheless.
We have the necessary receipts to back up our statement. We would like to thank our supporters for checking in on us and ensuring our well-being. We have taken all necessary steps to report the threats we have received to law enforcement and documented all interactions. Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to those who took the time to read this note to the end for your dedication to seeking the truth.
