Who Owns Reggaetón? Inside the Lawsuits Threatening Bad Bunny, Daddy Yankee, and the Dembow Beat

For decades, reggaetón has been more than a genre. It has been a soundtrack for migration, identity, Latino nightlife, and cultural pride across Latin America and the diaspora. But today, some of its biggest stars including Bad Bunny, Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, Karol G, Wisin & Yandel, and dozens of producers and record labels find themselves at the center of legal battles that could redefine the future of Latin music.

At the heart of the controversy is an ambitious copyright lawsuit filed by legendary Jamaican production duo Steely & Clevie. The case alleges that nearly 1,800 reggaetón songs unlawfully borrowed the rhythmic foundation of their 1989 instrumental track, “Fish Market,” without permission.

The lawsuit raises an extraordinary question: Can anyone own the beat that helped create reggaetón?

Steely & Clevie made up of Cleveland “Clevie” Browne and the late Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson were pioneers of Jamaican dancehall, producing hits that shaped Caribbean music in the 1980s and 1990s. Their lawsuit argues that the percussion pattern heard in “Fish Market” became the blueprint for the dembow rhythm that later spread across Panama and Puerto Rico before evolving into modern reggaetón.

In recent weeks, a federal judge in California refused to dismiss the case, ruling instead that a jury must determine whether the rhythm in “Fish Market” is original enough to qualify for copyright protection. The decision keeps the lawsuit alive and places one of Latin music’s most recognizable sounds under unprecedented legal scrutiny.

The implications are enormous. If Steely & Clevie ultimately prevail, the decision could reshape how artists sample, license, and produce reggaetón for years to come.

Yet many musicians and scholars argue that reggaetón itself emerged from decades of cultural exchange. The genre traces its roots to Jamaican dancehall and reggae, Panamanian reggae en español, and Puerto Rico’s underground music scene. Critics of the lawsuit contend that rhythms evolve collectively and that granting ownership over dembow risks rewriting the history of an art form built across borders and generations. Legal experts have described the case as a potential turning point for the music industry.

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Bad Bunny, arguably the genre’s biggest global ambassador, is simultaneously navigating another set of legal disputes this time involving the use of recorded voices.What makes the reggaetón litigation unique, however, is its scale and the fact that it touches the very heartbeat of the genre itself.

For Latinos, this conversation is about more than contracts and copyrights. It is about cultural memory, Afro-Caribbean influence, and who receives recognition when music crosses oceans and languages. Reggaetón did not emerge in isolation. It was born from Black Latino/Caribbean innovation, transformed in Panama, amplified in Puerto Rico, and ultimately embraced around the world.

As courts weigh whether dembow can be copyrighted and artists defend the sounds that defined an era, one thing remains clear: the outcome of these cases could change not only who profits from reggaetón, but how its history is remembered.