Collaboration between Julie Bergan and Alan Walker breaks down

The artists worked together for several years, but when Bergan asked for a certain share of the songwriting rights for a song they were going to release, things fell apart. It was absent from Walker’s US tour and is now omitted from the song.

—woke up totally damned, wrote Julie Bergan (25). Instagram On a Friday in the middle of November.

She did not explain the reason for the anger.

But it was also the day that fellow artist and collaborator of several years, EDM giant Alan Walker (25), released a new e-mail announcement on streaming services.

It contained four songs. None of this was “Ritual”—a long-heralded song that Walker and Bergan performed several times on a European tour together this fall, to crowd delight.

betrayal?

On Walker insta post Around the release, there was a barrage of questions about what on earth he did with the song that many had been looking forward to, after trying it out in concert and on YouTube.

Under Bergan’s aforementioned post, there are also questions from followers, including:

“Did Alan betray you?”

Subsequently, Walker released a version of “Ritual”—but without Bergan on vocals, and without what is supposed to be her songwriting input on the song.

However, she does appear in the official music video for the song. reluctantly, according to her manager.

Alan Walker’s manager, Gunnar Greif at the MER musical empire – which is largely built around Walker’s success – didn’t want to comment on the conflict.

– she did not accept

– It’s important for Julie, and for us on the team around her, to get recognition for the work she does, says Cecily Torp-Hult, Principal Bergan, of Circle Management.

– And here we did not agree with MER about Jolie’s share of the rights to write and distribute songs. So we ended up taking a stand, our proposal wasn’t accepted, and the result was that she’s not in the song.

Another consequence was that Bergan was absent from a number of concerts Walker gave in the US in early November/December.

According to Torp-Holte, six US concerts were planned where Bergan was to perform with Walker, including a performance of “Ritual” as part of a larger agreement.

But all the time she was no longer part of the song, Bergan’s device considered this a violation of the agreement.

Then Bergan chose to spend his time in the US on other assignments instead, says the director.

She also says that “Ritual” was intended as a single release and thus spearheaded Walker’s music release and tour this fall.

– Jolie will prioritize her own things in 2023. The Walker collaboration was a project for 2022, as it was definitely part of the agreement that “Ritual” should be a priority part of the Walker project.

According to Torp-Holte, the single was set to be released on October 28th. She says negotiations over rights shares collapsed shortly before.

This was shelved near its planned release. On Julie’s part, both she and I felt that her work and what she put into it were not appreciated enough. We believe right must be right, so we drew a line.

Eleven without two towers

Calculating percentages appears to be an all-out exercise in the field of Alan Walker.

Many of his songs feature a wide range of composers, lyricists and performers.

In the edition of “Ritual” that finally appeared, eleven names were listed as contributors to the script and composition – among them Walker himself, manager Gunnar Greif and another high-profile MER artist: Oyvind Sovic, better known as rapper Vinny.

When Bergan and Walker first released music together, in 2018, it did with good results: “Ignite” — a collaboration between the two, Norwegian producer K-391 and South Korean pop star Seungri — has 279 million plays on Spotify and 536 million on YouTube. YouTube.

Bergan also did vocals on Walker’s song “I Don’t Wanna Go”. On it and on “Ignite” she was the singer, not the songwriter.

Whether there will be further collaboration between the two seems as questionable as it is now.

– So far, this is not applicable, says manager Torp-Holte. Julie Bergan herself indicates to the director all the statements on this matter.

In the official “Ritual” video, Burjan appears on several occasions, in short clips.

– I asked for more to remove these, but it was clearly not taken into account, says the manager.

MER declined to comment on Bergan’s use in the video.

Torp Holt makes no secret that she thinks the situation is dire.

– This would have been a good project for both parties, with two artists where I think both felt it was a good match. This is also sad for the fans who have been looking forward to it. But when you’re not recognized on the right terms, that’s how it ends.

Alan Walker is by far one of Norway’s biggest and wealthiest artists.

From the 2021 tax rolls, which arrived this week, it appears that the Bergen resident had taxable income of NOK 23.5 million in 2021. His two largest businesses then had sales of NOK 79 million. (Kygo, the highest earner, had $36.5 million in taxable income last year.)

Julie Bergan is listed with 654,000 in 2021 income. Her company had a turnover of 1.15 million last year.