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A Day To Remember awarded $4 million in legal battle with Victory Records

By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 25 November 2016

A Day To Remember have won their long-running legal battle against former label Victory Records. A jury ruled that the metalcore band had fulfilled their contractual obligations to the label, and that Victory should hand over $4 million in unpaid royalties.

As previously reported, the band went legal in 2011, accusing the record company of withholding royalties. The label countered that the band had failed to record the five albums required by their contract, and accused them of attempting to get out of their deal early in order to sign with a major label.

As well as a dispute over quite how many albums the band had recorded (was it five or was it three?), Victory also claimed that the band had breached their contract by selling merch and music through their own website, rather than through the label’s official channels. This, the company said, legally justified the withholding of royalties.

However, at the end of a two week trial this week, a jury did not agree. Two disputed live recordings released on iTunes were deemed to count as albums under their contract, and the label was ordered to hand over $4 million in royalties from download and merch sales.

In a statement, the band said: “More than five years ago we filed a lawsuit against Victory Records seeking freedom and resolution on several issues we had with them. For the past two weeks we have been in court arguing our case. Yesterday, the jury came back with a unanimous verdict in the trial granting us that freedom and resolution … This isn’t just a victory for us but also a victory for every band wronged over the years. Right doesn’t always win, but yesterday it did”.

Victory Records has not commented on the ruling as yet.

A Day To Remember’s latest album, ‘Bad Vibrations’, was self-released in September.