The Artists Rights Enforcement Corporation is suing Dionne Warwick for allegedly trying to block payments that the company is entitled to under agreements the two parties struck as far back as 2002, including deals related to Doja Cat.
SUMMIT, NEW JERSEY – DECEMBER 12: Dionne Warwick attends her 85th Birthday Celebration on December 12, 2025 in Summit, New Jersey. (Photo by Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images)
The Legend and the Lawsuit
In a filing on Dec. 15 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the Artists Rights Enforcement Corporation claims its contributions to negotiations between Warwick — who originally performed “Walk On By” — and Doja Cat — who sampled the song for her hit “Paint the Town Red” — went unpaid, constituting a breach of contract and “unjust enrichment,” according to Music Business Worldwide.
Artists Rights Enforcement Corporation (AREC) is a royalty recovery and rights administration company that works on behalf of recording artists, particularly legacy artists, to track down, audit, negotiate, and collect unpaid or underpaid music royalties.
“After decades of service, Ms. Warwick is now trying to evade paying Artists Rights hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars. In so doing, she has violated her contracts with Artists Rights,” the complaint read, Billboard reported.
What makes the AREC v. Warwick case interesting outside the more than 20 years of alleged evasion is that the success of “Paint the Town Red” was the final straw.
“Paint the Town Red” by Doja Cat, as of date, has 1.5 billion streams on Spotify, and it has been played more than 377 million times on YouTube, and that is just the official music video.
Pitchfork reports that AREC has helped Warwick for years, helping her amass more than $2.5 million in revenue.
Under a 2002 contract, AREC claims it is entitled to 50 percent of royalties recovered from Warwick’s work as a Scepter Records artist.
However, in September 2025, Warwick, who allegedly has not paid her dues, tried to end her deal with AREC by receiving royalties from Sony, Rhino, and the British copyright collective PPL directly.
It is ironic because AREC claims it provided additional work since 2017, when it helped Warwick recover royalties from SoundExchange, Sony Music, the UK’s PPL, and Warner Music’s Rhino Entertainment, often under reduced fee arrangements.
And, it resolved tax liens and dormant royalty accounts that had prevented Warwick from receiving payments.
The lawsuit came at an awkward time for Warwick, as Dec. 12 was the five-time Grammy winner’s birthday. She was a 2019 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and has multiple Hall of Fame inductions.