UNIVERSAL HITS BACK OVER ROYALTIES LAWSUIT

UNIVERSAL HITS BACK OVER ROYALTIES LAWSUIT

Universal Music has hit back at a group of artists including COUNT BASIE and BENNY GOODMAN who are suing the company over royalties payments - calling the lawsuit "baseless". More than a dozen musicians have accused Universal Music of cheating them out of more than $6 million (GBP3 million). The group, many of whom signed with record labels that were later bought out by Universal, filed a lawsuit in New York on Friday (15Feb08), accusing the company of breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. The legal papers, lodged at New York State Court, alleges Universal provided false accounting information from May 1999 to February 2007 and "systematically underpaid royalties". But the record label, whose artist roster also boasts Amy Winehouse, Bon Jovi and 50 Cent, has released a statement refuting the claims. The statement reads, "We believe that these claims are baseless, and we are confident that we will prevail in court." The other artists named in the lawsuit are Les Brown, Richard Hayman, DICk Hyman, Woody Herman, Kitty Kallen, Frankie Laine, Tony Martin, John Mills, Jerry Murad, Patti Page, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Sarah Vaughn.