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Eminem Wants More Download Money, Sues Universal

by Lee Bains on February 25, 2009 at 05:12 PM


Yesterday, in California, Eminem's royalty rights lawsuit against conglomerate Universal Music Group went to trial in U.S. District Court, reports the Wrap.

Asking for $1.3 million from the parent company of Aftermath Records, to which Eminem is signed, the suit's fundamental claim is that royalties from downloads should be dictated by the artist's licensing contract, not distribution contract.

While the exact figures stipulated by Eminem's contracts have not been reported, according to a report in The Wrap, a traditional licensing deal would entitle the artist to 50-percent of the royalties, while a typical distribution deal could entitle him to as little as 25-percent.


The idea of a record label taking such a large cut of download money does strike us as a little backwards; when any kid with an Internet connection and a little bit of spare time can upload his own music to the iTunes store, why should a signed artist hand over so much money to a label for the same thing?

Either way, we have a feeling that Eminem is only chasing this paper due to the fact he's been out of work for so long. We can talk about the recent economic crisis all day, but that dude hasn't put out a record in five years. [From: The Wrap Via: Business Insider]

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Tags: business, digital downloads, DigitalDownloads, eminem, itunes, lawsuits, licensing, music, royalties

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