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Jury Rejects Session Musician’s Claim to Jason Derulo’s ‘Savage Love’ Royalties
A Los Angeles jury ruled that session musician Matthew Spatola is not a co-writer or producer on Jason Derulo’s 2020 hit "Savage Love."
A Los Angeles jury rejected Matthew Spatola’s bid to be recognized as a co-writer and producer on Jason Derulo’s 2020 hit “Savage Love,” handing Derulo and Columbia Records a victory on Thursday, May 7.
Jason Derulo attends Netflix’s “Swapped” World Premiere at Netflix Tudum Theater on April 26, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
Gonzalo Marroquin/Getty Images for Netflix
The verdict means session musician Matthew Spatola will not receive royalties from the song, a viral TikTok hit from August 2020 that later reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 after a remix featuring BTS.
Spatola, who played guitar and bass on the track, claimed during a two-week trial that he contributed to the instrumentals and therefore deserved writing and production splits. Derulo denied those assertions, testifying that Spatola “created absolutely nothing” and only played what he was told.
It is undisputed that Spatola was paid a $2,000 fee for two studio sessions in April 2020. It is also undisputed that no work-for-hire agreement was signed.
Spatola pointed to the missing paperwork as evidence he was more than a session player. Derulo’s team said the forms were not completed because the song was recorded during the height of COVID-19 quarantine restrictions and “so the people that would typically be in place to give him an agreement just weren’t there.”
Derulo also texted Spatola after the sessions, asking, “1K good each day?”
Jurors deliberated for just over a day and concluded Spatola had not proven joint authorship of either the composition or the master recording. They gave no written explanation for the verdict, which is standard.
The dispute, which has been winding through the courts since 2023, drew attention to informal practices between artists and collaborators and the legal risks those arrangements can create.
A representative for Spatola declined to comment after the verdict. Reps for Derulo and Columbia did not immediately return requests for comment.
