The artists have worked together for several years, but when Bergan asked for a certain share of songwriting rights for a song they were going to release, things fell apart. She was absent from Walker’s US tour and is now deleted from the song.
Less than 20 minutes ago
– Woke up quite cursed, wrote Julie Bergan (25) on Instagram on a Friday in the middle of November.
She did not elaborate there on what caused the anger.
But this was also the day when her artist colleague and collaborator for several years, EDM giant Alan Walker (25), released a new EP on the streaming services.
It contained four songs. None of these was “Ritual” – a long-announced song Walker and Bergan performed several times on a European tour together this autumn, to the delight of the audience.
Betrayed?
On Walker’s own Insta post about the release, there was a hail of questions about what on earth he had done with the song many had been looking forward to, after experiencing it in concert and on YouTube.
Under Bergan’s above-mentioned post, there are also questions from followers, including this:
“Has Alan betrayed you?”
Subsequently, Walker released a version of “Ritual” – but without Bergan on vocals, and without what is supposed to have been her songwriting contribution to the song.
She does, however, appear in the official music video for the song. Reluctantly, according to her manager.
Alan Walker’s manager, Gunnar Greve in the music empire MER – which is largely built around Walker’s success – does not want to comment on the conflict.
– Was not accepted
– It is important both for Julie and us in the team around her that she gets recognition for the work she does, says Bergan’s manager, Cecilie Torp-Holte at Circle Management.
– And here we did not agree with MER about Julie’s share of the songwriting rights, the distribution of these. So we ended up having to take a stand, our proposal was not accepted, and the result is that she is not on the song.
Another consequence is that Bergan was absent from a number of concerts Walker had in the US around the turn of 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 apparatus considered this a breach of the agreement.
Bergan then chose to spend his time in the US on other tasks instead, says the manager.
She also says that “Ritual” was intended as a single release and thus a spearhead for Walker’s music release and tour this autumn.
– Julie will prioritize her own things in 2023. The Walker collaboration was a project for 2022, where it was certainly part of the agreement that “Ritual” should be a prioritized part of the Walker project.
According to Torp-Holte, the song was actually to be released on 28 October. She says that the negotiations on rights share collapsed shortly before.
– This was shelved close to the planned release. For Julie’s part, she and we felt that her work and what she had put into it was not appreciated enough. Right should be right, we believe, so we drew a line.
Eleven without Bergan
Calculation of percentages seems to be a comprehensive exercise in the Alan Walker sphere.
Many of his songs involve a wide range of composers, lyricists and performers.
In the version of “Ritual” that eventually came out, eleven names are listed as contributors to the text and composition – among them Walker himself, manager Gunnar Greve and another high-profile MER artist: Øyvind Sauvik, known as the rapper Vinni.
When Bergan and Walker released music together for the first time, in 2018, it was with good results: “Ignite” – a collaboration between the two, the Norwegian producer K-391 and the South Korean pop star Seungri – has 279 million plays on Spotify and 536 million on YouTube.
Bergan also sang on the Walker song “I Don’t Wanna Go”. On it and “Ignite” she was the vocalist, not the songwriter.
Whether there will be any more cooperation between the two seems doubtful as the mood is now.
– As of now, it is not applicable, says manager Torp-Holte. Julie Bergan herself refers to the manager for all statements in this matter.
In the official “Ritual” video, Bergan appears on several occasions, in short clips.
– I have asked MORE to remove these, but it was clearly not taken into account, says the manager.
MER has declined to comment on the use of Bergan in the video.
Torp-Holte does not hide that she thinks the situation is dire.
– This could have been a good project for both parties, with two artists where I think both felt that it was a good match. This is also sad for the fans, who had been looking forward to it. But when you are not recognized on the right terms, this is how it ends.
Alan Walker is by far one of Norway’s biggest and richest artists.
From the tax lists for 2021, which arrived this week, it appears that the Bergen resident had a taxable income of NOK 23.5 million in 2021. His two largest companies then had a turnover of NOK 79 million. (Kygo, who earns the most, 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.
Published: 10.12.22 at 12:22 p.m
