Artist estates suing Universal for back royalties

[ghost of miles]

Story on the AP wire:

Music greats sue for back royalties

The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Some of the biggest names in American music or their estates are suing Universal Music Group Inc. for more than $6 million, claiming the company has been cheating them out of royalties for years.

The plaintiffs include Patti Page, and the estates of Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, Woody Herman, Les Brown, Benny Goodman and the Mills Brothers. The lawsuit, filed late Thursday in Manhattan's state Supreme Court, says Universal Music and one of its subsidiaries have "pervasively and systematically breached" agreements with the artists by using accounting tricks since at least 1998. The lawsuit seeks at least $6.07 million plus attorneys' fees and

punitive damages.

A representative at Universal Music said the authorized spokesman was traveling and not immediately available to comment.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Patti Page is not an estate?

Wow!

Good luck to her, at least.

MG

[Christiern]

Patti Page is not an estate?

Wow!

Good luck to her, at least.

MG

They told her that doggie in the window was $67,000.

Obviously, they lied!

[Dan Gould]

Patti Page is not an estate?

Wow!

Good luck to her, at least.

MG

They told her that doggie in the window was $67,000.

Obviously, they lied!

[GA Russell]

Interesting that we are talking about the past ten years. I am surprised that a major in recent times would do that.

[Dan Gould]

Interesting that we are talking about the past ten years. I am surprised that a major in recent times would do that.

I'm not. There was money to be made from reissues, why would they suddenly find religion when it comes to paying what they owe the artists? Just as easy to rake in the dough and assume you'll get away with it.

Now, if BN were being sued, I'd be surprised because Tom seemed genuinely pleased to be able to deliver royalty checks, e.g., the Jutta Hipp story.

[AllenLowe]

they all do it - I recorded for one real label, Enja, in the 1990s - they were supposed to pay me the Euro mechanicals - I never got a cent, should have amounted to probably $1500-2500 -

[RDK]

Don't know if the post is still there, but Buddy Defranco has/had a website and forum and somebody once asked him about the set of his music that Mosaic released. Mosaic. And Defranco claimed that he never saw a cent of royalties from that.