In this week's Legal Beat, UMG faces a looming copyright battle, Post Malone heads to trial over 'Circles', Nicki Minaj aims to punish an opposing lawyer over 'disgraceful' conduct and more.
But those cases are relatively small potatoes, at least when compared to two class actions filed against Universal Music Group and Sony Music that seek to let hundreds of recording artists use the termination right to win back their masters.
At issue in the cases is the alleged refusal of both UMG and Sony to honor the termination right when it comes to sound recordings. Unlike underlying musical compositions, the labels have apparently told artists that recordings are mostly off-limits. The argument for that? That recordings are “works for hire,” meaning the label essentially creates the masters itself, and simply hires artists to contribute to them.
There’s little clear case law on whether such an argument holds water, but needless to say, it has major implications for the music industry. There are countless other artists who have similar arrangements with record labels over highly-lucrative masters, and every year another batch of them become eligible for termination. A precedent-setting decision will make a big splash, regardless of which way it goes.
The Sony case remains paused for settlement talks, but the UMG case leapt back to life this week when the label’s accusers. If granted, such class certification would vastly increase the case’s size, jumping from nine aggrieved UMG artists to potentially more than 200. “Defendants have systematically and uniformly refused to honor the notices of termination,” the artists wrote. “Defendants have been holding the artists’ rights hostage and have deprived the artists of the ability to reclaim their rights.”a lawsuit against Post Malone that claims he failed to credit a co-writer of his smash-hit “Circles,” sending the case toward a trial as soon as next month.
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