Discontent was growing behind the scenes as Australia’s night for the music industry began.

Jolyon Petch, a music producer, was nominated last night for the Best Dance Release Award.

It did not win.

The chatter has been all about the track and Reigan Derry’s social media post.

Derry says she should have been credit on the song. Her post gained more attention than mentions about the winner of that category — RUFUS DOL’s Alive.

“This photo is not from this year’s [sic] ARIA Red Carpet. Derry added a photo of her on a red-carpet, even though she is singing on a song that was nominated for an ARIA Award this year.

She then made a series of claims, including that she was never credited for Dreams’ vocals. She claimed she recorded it as a session sing.

“When I invoice vocals for collaborations, it is noted that the fee is only for DEMO vocals. If the vocal is to become public, a separate agreement must be drawn.

TMRW Music released Dreams. It is a new take on Fleetwood Mac’s song of the name. It has been commercially successful.

Derry stated that Dreams was recorded in Derry’s home studio at her father’s Perth house. She has “pieced together approximately 10,000 worth of equipment.”

“Right now, instead of celebrating being a platinum-selling, ARIA nominated musician, I have been silenced and bullied, insulted and belittled.”

Derry claimed that she had paid $8,000 to Petch in legal fees, but was ignored and blocked by social media.

Although it might seem that I’m doing well financially, the pandemic, which has ravaged the Australian music industry, has completely destroyed my income. I was unable to reschedule 3 tours and lost countless gigs. For the first time since 2006 I had to find a job other than music. Instead of cleaning Airbnb’s, I spent my time cleaning them. It’s crazy to believe that I am the most successful person I have ever been (multiple platinum sales, ARIA nominations) while earning the lowest salary of my working life.

Jolyon Petch issued a statement stating that there are “two sides” to every story. He stated that Dreams was not released without Derry’s permission and that he had been in discussions about crediting her.

“Reigan and I had been working on a variety of covers under the same commercial terms prior to the lockdown. Reigan knew that her vocals were a session paid for, and she never sent me an invoice with the word “Demo”. Reigan wasn’t concerned about these covers and never asked for credit. Reigan only raised the issue with me after Dreams was released.

Petch pointed out, however, that the Fleetwood Mac song was not his.

“With Dreams and other covers that we recorded, Reigan received a payment for a session. (I can’t credit Reigan with Dreams because I didn’t write it, so I don’t have any claim to that credit.)

Petch denied that he ignored Derry’s messages and claimed that he was targeted by her followers on social media.

“The last few weeks have seen me become the target of Reigan’s “followers”, which have escalated to death threats. You will understand why I blocked people. No one should ever be subject to death threats or abuses online.

It is not clear that Derry encouraged such behavior from her followers.

Petch was surprised that Derry made the issue public on the eve ARIAs.

“Despite the fact that a deal was made last year, we tried to reach an agreement with Reigan and her legal staff over the last few months.

“We believed we had reached an amicable commercial solution 2 weeks ago, so she would be recognized at the ARIAs across DSPs as well as YouTube. But we have been waiting for Reigan’s signature to the agreement.”

Both parties have been contacted by the ABC, but they have yet to respond.