Universal Music is at the center of a million dollar lawsuit, sparked by The Temptations.
According to court documents, Universal Music group cheated the group out of revenue from digital downloads and ring tones. Don’t believe me.. Ask Otis Williams or Ron Tyson.
Now, the pioneering male vocal 60′s group are the latest to join a growing chorus of musicians who are taking their slave masters to court with allegations of stiffing musicians, by accounting for downloads from iTunes as sales rather than licenses.
The Temptations are not alone in their lawsuit against Universal Music. A long list of superstar musicians have joined them, including James Brown, Eric Clapton, Guns N’ Roses, Kiss, Nirvana, The Police and The Who.
The lawsuit also provides stats like Apple’s iTunes store has generated $1.4 billion in revenue in second-quarter 2011, up from $1.1 billion the previous year. The class action also goes after revenue from other digital download providers as well, including Amazon.com, Napster, Rhapsody, Zune and eMusic as well as ringtone providers by such wireless companies as AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile.
Universal Music is the largest of the record labels, said to be responsible for 80 percent of downloads in the U.S.
As for The Temptations, the complaint asserts that their relationship with Universal Music is guided by a 1993 agreement that provides 14 to 16 percent of revenue from sales after packaging deductions, compared with 50 percent from licensing income.
Did Universal Music get caught ripping off their artist?
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