UPDATE: 'Dreams' Controversy Continues As Reigan Derry Hits Back At Jolyon Petch Statement

UPDATE (Nov 26, 3:30 PM AEDT): Reigan Derry has issued a statement in response to Jolyon Petch’s yesterday, hitting back at multiple points the producer made in regard to the ongoing Dreams song credit controversy.

Contrary to Petch’s comments yesterday, Derry claims that she was not sent “any version of the song for my feedback or approval” prior to release and that they had not come to an agreement in regard to her credit.

You can read Derry’s full response below.

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New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based DJ/producer Jolyon Petch has issued a statement as the song credit controversy surrounding his ARIA-nominated cover of Dreams hits boiling point.

Yesterday, Australian artist Reigan Derry, who sings on the track, took to Facebook to allege that Petch “refuses” to credit her on the Platinum song, which was not only nominated for Best Dance Release at the 2021 ARIAs, but has dominated radio and the Aussie chart, while also being the most Shazamed song in Australia at one point this year.

Petch has now commented saying, "Like everything, there are two sides to every story."

"Dreams was never released without Reigan’s consent. And we had come to an agreement to credit her," he said via Facebook.

"Over the lockdown, Reigan & I had worked on a number of covers under the same commercial terms. Reigan was aware her vocals were a paid session, to be released and at no time have I ever received an invoice from her that stated 'Demo'. Reigan was never concerned with any of these covers, never asked to be credited, and only in the past 7 weeks has Reigan raised it with me with the success of Dreams, and well after I had paid Reigan what was agreed upon last year.

"We did a single together called Holding On which Reigan co-wrote and was paid for her session and registered as a song writer. She agreed to be uncredited on Holding On. 

"With Dreams and the other covers we recorded, Reigan was paid for a session (I can’t credit Reigan for writing Dreams, as I didn’t write it either, so I have no claim to that). We even discussed working further on singles after Dreams to which Reigan sent me 4 additional toplines.

"I have gone onto credit Reigan in a number of radio interviews and was keen to involve her more across Dreams. I’ve taken Reigan’s calls and responded to her messages right away including reaching out a month ago to try and further resolve this without everyone expending more in legal bills, to which Reigan’s reply was 'I think it's best to leave coms, lawyers to lawyer'.

"The past few weeks I have been the target of Reigan’s 'followers' which have now escalated to death threats. I’m sure you can understand why I had to block people as no one should ever receive death threats or abuse online. 

"At every stage over the past few months we have been trying to work with Reigan and her legal team to come to an agreement, accommodating precisely her recent demands (including ongoing royalties and feature credit) even though a deal was clearly made last year. We thought we’d reached an amicable commercial resolution 2 weeks ago - so that she would be recognised at the ARIAs, across DSPs and YouTube, but we have been waiting for Reigan to sign the agreement.

"So I’m really surprised Reigan took this path on the eve of the ARIAs when we had already agreed to settle this matter."

In Derry’s statement yesterday, she claimed that Petch released Dreams “without my consent and without written agreement”.

“When I first flagged this I thought it was a simple misunderstanding and I never could have imagined what was to follow. It has now been more than 2 months since I asked Jolyon to acknowledge me and credit me on a song that is solely sung by me.”

You can read Derry’s full statement here.

Following Derry’s comments, The Music Network reportedly obtained text messages between the two in which the singer allegedly said to Petch: “Also I should let you know! My indie/folk stuff is coming out so I’ll be using Reigan for all that stuff and Red London for everything else aka holding on. If you’d like you don’t have to put my name as a feature and just have it as Jolyon.”

Derry then tagged TMN in an Instagram story, revealing more of that same text exchange, which was apparently about another song the worked on together, Holding On.

TMRW Music, who released the song, also issued a statement to TMN, claiming that “Derry “did not want to be named as a feature artist”.

“In July 2021, as the record gained traction, we reached out to Reigan and actively tried to include her in promotion for the record,” the label said.

“Her name was also mentioned in interviews and online content with Jolyon.

“Reigan stated she was happy to be involved in promotion for the record and that it was in her best interest to do so, even though she didn’t want to put her name to the release originally.

“Subsequent to these conversations, Reigan approached Jolyon asking to be featured on the record and to receive a share of royalties. As TMRW licensed the recording from Jolyon, these negotiations have been taking place directly between Jolyon and Reigan and their legal teams.

“On November 12 we were advised by Jolyon’s team that an agreement had been reached between both parties’ legal teams for Reigan to feature on the record and participate in a share of the artist income. We have been awaiting confirmation of execution of this agreement so that we can proceed with making changes to the product.

“We are disappointed to hear that this is not the case.”

In response to Derry’s statement yesterday, a number of artists have come out in support of her, including acclaimed country singer-songwriter Travis Collins, who comment, “Blow this up.”

“Absolute bullshit,” Aussie artist Brooke Schubert said. “We love you Reigan Derry… I’m so sorry this happy moment is not that - at all. Make no mistake, us musicians know you’re one of the best female vocalists among us. Karma will come around.”

2022 Golden Guitar nominee Hayley Jensen added: “OMG Reigan!!! If it’s any consolation, I recognized your vocals immediately, but had no idea this bullshit was going on in the background!!! Absolutely outrageous!!”

You can listen to the track below.