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Universal Music Group (UMG) is being sued by hip-hop duo Black Sheep over ownership of Spotify shares.
Last week (January 4), two members of Black Sheep, Andres Titus and William McLean (a.k.a. Dres and Mista Lawnge) filed a class action lawsuit in New York alleging that UMG would cut its royalty rate from Spotify in 2008. claimed to have agreed to stock, global music business report.
They said that due to the terms of their contract with Universal regarding ‘net income’, they and other artists were not paid about $750m (£630m), giving Spotify’s half of UMG’s stake. He claims he should have received it. half its value.
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The complaint also alleges that:
“Over time, the value of Spotify shares improperly withheld from artists by Universal ballooned into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
This claim was rejected by UMG. MBW described the claim that they accepted a low royalty rate in exchange for fairness as “clearly false and absurd.”
“Universal Music Group’s innovative leadership has delivered new growth in the music ecosystem, benefiting recording artists, songwriters and creators around the world.
“UMG has a track record of fighting for artists’ compensation, and any claim to take fairness at the expense of artists’ compensation is plainly false and absurd. We are unable to comment on all aspects of the complaint.”
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In 2021, a UMG report to investors revealed that the label held a 3.37% stake in the streaming service.
Since then, Spotify’s stock price has plummeted. MBW The value of UMG’s shares is calculated to have decreased from approximately $2.3 billion in February 2021 to approximately $511 million today.
Universal previously promised to share the proceeds with the artists on its list if it sold its stake in Spotify.
Black Sheep are an influential hip-hop duo from Queens, New York City whose 1991 debut album A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing sold over half a million copies and went gold in 1992.
Isaac Muk is a Digital Intern at Mixmag. follow him twitter
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