On February 11th, Dr. Dre brought suit against WIDEawake Death Row Records and its parent companies alleging that Death Row failed to pay him royalties on his album “The Chronic” since 1996 and that the label issued "The Chronic Re-Lit" and a greatest hits collection without his permission or the proper rights. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages of more than $75,000 for several claims, including breach of contract, false advertising, trademark infringement and misappropriation of publicity.When discussing the suit in Los Angeles Federal Court Dre’s lawyer Howard King told a judge: "When it came to paying artist royalties and honoring limits on Dr. Dre recordings that could be released, the 'new' Death Row Records, to quote our client, 'forgot about Dre.'"
I wonder if Dre's battle was similar to Pink Floyd's. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/business/media/12pink.html?ref=global-home)
ReplyDeleteMany artists were popular before itunes downloads & ringtones (Dr. Dre Chronic album included), so this adds a layer to their contracts that wasn't originally considered.
Instead, there are clauses in the old contracts that restrict songs from being used seperately from the albums to “preserve the artistic integrity of the albums.”
Now, with iTunes downloads and ringtones, contracts have to be written differently in the interest of the artist.