General Levy has claimed that he has never received any royalties for his classic jungle track ‘Incredible’.
Produced by M-Beat, ‘Incredible’ was released in 1994 via Renk Records and landed the Number 39 Spot on the UK Singles Chart. The track was re-released a few months after alongside brand-new mixes which were more successful, peaking at Number Eight and staying in the charts for 12 weeks. ‘Incredible’ was the first jungle track to make it on the top 10 in the UK.
Speaking about the song in a new interview with DJ Mag, Levy claimed: “I’ve never received a royalties statement from London Records or from Renk Records.”
He continued: “London Records saw the potential [of the independently made track], said, ‘Okay, he’s been a bit naughty, but we’re gonna try and negotiate something.’ So they had a meeting with Renk. I wasn’t there, nothing to do with me, I’m just the artist. Renk and London Records made an agreement, a licensing agreement, and they re-released the track.”
Levy explained that he did reach out to both labels to enquire about his royalties but neither label were able to give an answer, passing the blame to one another.”You end up running around in a circle. So I’ve never been able to get a royalties statement,” he explained.
He continued: “I don’t know how much money [it made], I don’t know how much it sold. There’s been so many different compilations, there’s been a release in so many countries around the world, and I’ve never ever received not one pound from that song from the industry.”
Speaking about the famous track back in 1994 ,Ben Willmott from NME wrote, “Poppy and infectious, it’s totally uncompromising on the new style jungle beats but has a breathtaking ragga rap from veteran General Levy. A huge hit too.”
NME attempted to reach out to London Records and Renk records for a comment.
In other news, last November, Levy teamed up with the “First Lady of Drum ‘n’ Bass” DJ Rap for the new single and video, ‘Life of the Party’.