{"id":1796,"date":"2026-06-18T20:04:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T20:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1796"},"modified":"2026-06-18T20:04:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T20:04:33","slug":"rapper-swizz-beatz-sues-popular-lake-norman-nightspot-over-his-party-up-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1796","title":{"rendered":"Rapper Swizz Beatz sues popular Lake Norman nightspot over his \u2018Party Up\u2019 song"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rapper Swizz Beatz<\/a> and several record labels sued a popular Lake Norman nightspot<\/a> this week over claims the venue played their songs without permission for years, jilting them of royalties.<\/p>\n

Read more Toddler almost hit after found walking through traffic, Gastonia police said<\/a><\/p>\n

In Swizz\u2019s case, the song was \u201cParty Up (Up in Here<\/a>),\u201d according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Charlotte Tuesday against BoatYard Lake Norman owner Chris Boukedes and his limited liability company, Hello Bye.<\/p>\n

Boukedes didn\u2019t return email and phone messages from The Charlotte Observer.<\/p>\n

Boukedes has been a fixture on the Lake Norman dining and entertainment scene for decades. He and a business partner operated the former Galway Hooker in Cornelius from 2002 until the COVID pandemic, after bringing a real Irish pub, piecemeal, from Ireland and reassembling the building.<\/p>\n

For several years, the lawsuit states, representatives of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers<\/a> \u201chave made numerous attempts to contact\u201d Boukedes and others at his establishment \u201cto offer an ASCAP license for Boatyard. ASCAP has contacted Defendants by telephone, by mail, and by e-mail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boukedes \u201crefused all of ASCAP\u2019s license offers for Boatyard,\u201d yet \u201ccontinued to perform publicly copyrighted musical compositions written and owned by ASCAP\u2019s members,\u201d according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

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Other plaintiffs in the complaint are Universal Music Corp., also for \u201cParty Up;\u201d Irish Intellect Music, for \u201cJump Around<\/a>;\u201d Stone City Music Co. for \u201cParty All the Time<\/a>;\u201d and Benjamin Berger Publishing and W. Chappell Music Corp. for \u201cShut Up and Dance<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

BoatYard Lake Norman should have to pay up to $30,000 in damages, according to the lawsuit. That is the maximum amount under U.S. law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit was among a dozen copyright infringement complaints filed nationwide by ASCAP members against venues this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach of the establishments sued today has chosen to infringe upon the hard work of songwriters instead of licensing the music they play, despite repeated notifications and opportunities to do so,\u201d Stephanie Ruyle, ASCAP executive vice president, head of licensing, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Read more Talk about teen mental health should include a harmful CMS policy | Opinion<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published June 18, 2026 at 2:57 PM.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rapper Swizz Beatz and several record labels sued a popular Lake Norman nightspot over claims the venue played their songs without permission for years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nRapper Swizz Beatz sues popular Lake Norman nightspot over his \u2018Party Up\u2019 song - \u0421harlotte Relocation Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1796\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rapper Swizz Beatz sues popular Lake Norman nightspot over his \u2018Party Up\u2019 song - 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