Christian Nodal’s Parents Get Sued Over Fraud – Here’s What We Know

A lot is going on in the life of Mexican Regional singer Christian Nodal right now. From going through a very public breakup to having to cover up his ex-fiance Belinda’s face tattoo, his parents are now embroiled in a lawsuit tied to his musical catalog. The record label giant Universal Music presented an accusation against Silvia Nodal and Jaime González before Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (Fiscalía General de la República), claiming they gave false documents as proof of ownership of the singer’s music catalog. This comes after Nodal signed with Sony Music U.S. Latin and Sony Mexico as of Feb. 15.

It is a troublesome accusation to dissect, but it comes from a dispute over ownership of Christian Nodal’s music catalog. Does his former record label Universal Music hold it, or does the singer own the rights to his music? What happens now that the artist is signed to another record label? In efforts to detach themselves from Universal Music, Nodal and his parents filed a lawsuit to attain ownership of all of his music catalog back in Nov. 2021, including his newer music “Nace Un Borracho,” “Dime Cómo Quieres,” and his older hits “Adiós Amor” and “Ay ay ay.” However, it seems that this is causing more drama, now that his former record label claims that the documents the family presented are false.

According to El Universal, Nodal’s parents presented documents showing the supposed singer’s ownership to the federal judge. But his former label, Fonovisa (which is part of Universal Music), claims they’re fraudulent. The record label claims that it possesses several contracts and the corresponding payments that legitimize it as the owner of Nodal’s musical catalog and that both the parents and the singer have acknowledged the company as the owner of the rights in the past. Universal Music also claims in the lawsuit that “the intention is to strip the record company of the works, which both Nodal and his parents have recognized Universal/Fonovisa as the owner, [and] which could update a procedural fraud by presenting documents that attribute a title or ownership of the works that do not belong to him and possibly also entailing a violation of copyrights.” The company presented its lawsuit on Feb. 22.

At the time of publication, neither the singer nor his parents had commented about the lawsuit. 

The relationship between Nodal’s parents and Fonovisa dates back to 2017 when they signed the contract for his son, who was underage at the time, to record music, film music videos, and work on other projects under the company. However, now that Nodal is continuing his career elsewhere, the record label giant is taking steps to make sure their ownership is evident, especially since they were the ones who helped finance them. It’s a back and forth of ownership that they are both trying to fight over.

It’s been a long journey leading up to Nodal’s independence (music-wise, at least), and he has been open about this label departure process since late last year. Last Nov., he published an Instagram post about the press frenzy that Universal Music allegedly created because he wasn’t re-signing with them after five years. This is rooted in the alleged “veto” that took place, where according to Los Angeles Times, Universal Music asked other parties to “refrain from disclosing, manufacturing, contracting, distributing, marketing, promoting, exploiting and selling records” with the artist, presumably to keep their exclusivity. Nodal claims that he has nothing to do with the company now that he is free from it.

We’ve seen this happen to many artists, especially young ones. But the difference here is that if there are fraudulent papers involved, that could create a whole different scenario for the artist. Let’s hope everything is handled correctly and that his new label is a better fit for the growing artist.