Members of US rock outfit The Allman Brothers Band have sued the Universal Music Group for a sweet ten million dollars. I wish there was someone I could sue for ten million dollars. If only I'd recorded some hit songs in the seventies and been signed to a label not very good at paying me my royalties.
That is what Greg Allman, Jai Johanny 'Jaimoe' Johanson, Butch Trucks and Dickey Betts allege has happened to them in their lawsuit, which relates to royalties allegedly owing on songs the band recorded for Capricorn Records which, presumably, came into Universal's ownership at somepoint.
The legal papers allege that Universal "refuses to pay [the] plaintiffs at the correct royalty rate for its digital exploitation of the Capricorn masters. UMG incurs practically no expenses or risks in connection with the masters, particularly with respect to licensing other companies such as Apple to create and distribute digital downloads ... yet UMG reaps millions of dollars every year from such exploitation".
Universal are yet to respond.