W Hotels not going to face the music over music studio concept

W Hotels has been accused of stealing a concept for a music studio from a hip hop producer.

Bryan-Michael Cox, a music producer who has worked with artists such as Mariah Carey and Toni Braxton, has accused the hotel chain of stealing an idea from a pitch he presented to them about building full-service music studios in their hotels.

Cox’s brand strategist, Angela Mack, said on Twitter that the duo started meeting Starwood executives back in 2009. They had presented the idea and sent in a written proposal to Starwood corporate but the latter said they could not afford it.

Starwood is a subsidiary of Marriott International that owns W Hotels.

Cox and Mack found out that the hotel chain had executed the idea in 2016, crediting DJ White Shadow, a producer known for working with pop star Lady Gaga. W Hotels in that year launched its first recording studio in W Bali – Seminyak. The Sound Suite is a private music studio and writer’s rooms for musicians while on the road.

But the duo did end up working with W Hotels, although that did not end very well, either. In 2008, Cox started hosting W WonderLust Live, a series of performances by musicians at W Hotels. But up to two years after the programme ended, W Hotels continued to use Cox’s image as the host of W Vision, the hotel’s in-room entertainment channel. Cox and Mack had to send the hotel a cease-and-desist letter.

W Hotels recently announced that it is venturing into the music industry by starting a music label, W Records. They have signed a new artist and are expected to sign three more. Some W Hotels locations – Bali, Seattle, Hollywood and Barcelona – now have recording studios that artists can use.

Strangely, Cox and Mack are not planning on suing or getting compensation. They only want to “shed light on a problem that has for far too long, gone unchecked in Black culture.” Mack claims to have the ‘receipts’ to prove that their music studio idea was stolen.

We have contacted Marriott International, which owns W Hotels, for comment on this story but they have not replied.