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Fred Durst, frontman of the rock band Limp Bizkit, sued Universal Music Group NV, the world’s largest record company, claiming he was cheated out of millions of dollars in royalties.
The complaint filed Tuesday in federal court in Los Angeles seeks upward of $200 million in damages, as well as the return of Limp Bizkit’s copyrights. The lawsuit alleges Universal Music systematically and intentionally deprived other artists of their earnings as well, and seeks to claw back copyrights from other groups that worked with Universal through Durst’s Flawless Records.
The frontman maintains he never received royalties from Universal, even though Limp Bizkit has sold more than 45 million records and equivalents. The band has become popular again in the streaming era. So far this year, the complaint alleges, Limp Bizkit has generated over 450 million streams and will likely exceed 793 million by the end of the year.
According to the complaint, Durst and his bandmates received funding advances on albums while they worked on new music. The company also covered recording costs. The group was to receive royalties once Universal Music recovered its expenses.
The company allegedly told Durst representatives that he hadn’t received any royalty statements over the years because Universal Music was “not required to provide them since his account was still so far from recoupment.” Management allegedly told them the company spent approximately $43 million that would need to be recovered before Durst could be paid any royalties.
Durst’s team discovered that Flip Records, the original label that signed the band, has been making millions of dollars through profit-sharing with Universal Music while Durst has received nothing.
When the team logged onto a Universal Music database to view Durst’s royalty statements, they found he had over $1 million in earnings waiting to be paid, the complaint said. After contacting the company, Durst’s representatives were told to provide various data, including banking information. Universal Music officials also blamed an error in new software.
The complaint alleges Universal Music should have had all of that information from past advances and that management never intended to pay any royalties.
Universal Music didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Copyright 2024 Bloomberg.
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