Sony Music Entertainment has agreed to a one-time payment of $12.7 million to “common fund” and a 36% increase in foreign streaming royalty payments for artists part of a class-action lawsuit brought by the estate of 1950s pop star Rick Nelson. Nelson’s legal team suggests that “the settlement could affect hundreds, if not thousands, of class members.”
In the lawsuit, the issue is with Sony’s policy of reducing “the foreign streaming royalties” by applying an “intercompany charge” on revenues collected outside the US. Rick Nelson’s estate alleges that “by assessing an intercompany charge for international sales, [Sony] impermissibly takes up to 68% off the top of the international revenue earned from streaming sales.”
Sony Music “denies all allegations of wrongdoing, fault, or liability, or that it has acted improperly in any way.”
– Excerpt from an article for MusicBusiness Worldwide by Murray Stassen. Read the full article here.
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