In response to allegedly failing to pay band royalties, Limp Bizkit is suing Universal Music Group (UMG.)
On Tuesday (10.08,) in a lawsuit was filed in a Los Angeles court, lawyers on behalf of the nu metal band along with frontman Fred Durst claimed the record company owes the group more than $200,000,000.00
Despite significant achieving mainstream success with such albums as Significant Other (1999) as well as Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water (2000,) according to the lawsuit obtained by Billboard, Durst and Limp Bizkit had “not seen a dime in royalties.”
Attorneys representing the pop/rock group have accused the Universal Music Group of implementing a “fraudulent” policy that retains royalties from musicians in order to “keep those profits” adding:
“UMG’s creation of such a system, while holding itself out as a company that prides itself on investing in and protecting its artists, makes plaintiffs’ discovery of UMG’s scheme all the more appalling and unsettling.”
In addition to Durst’s band, the lawsuit alleges that “possibly hundreds of other artists” may be impacted by “wrongfully withheld” royalties.
Elsewhere in the complaint, Durst stated that he started preparing the complaint after hiring a new team last April. His legal team claimed that when the issue of allegedly unpaid royalties was initially raised with UMG managers, they explained this was due to Limp Bizkit being paid $43,000,000.00 in recoupable advances.
Since then, Durst’s representatives alleged UMG has paid $1,000,000.00 to the band and $2,300,000.00 million to the 54-year-old’s Flawless Records label.
“Given the vast amounts of money collected by UMG in relation to sales of Limp Bizkit’s and Flawless Records’ albums over the years… UMG is liable to plaintiffs for tens of millions of dollars in copyright infringement, if not more.” “Indeed, Plaintiffs allege that the amounts owed to them by UMG following the rescission of these agreements will easily surpass $200 million,” thew lawsuit continued.
In the paperwork, Durst is seeking to recoup allegedly unpaid royalties as well as to void Limp Bizkit’s current contract with UMG. He is also wanting to receive the copyright to recordings and copyright infringement damages.
At press time representatives for UMG have not yet responded to the allegations.
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Author: Al Denté
Photo: ECarterSterling