Eminem Related Law Suit Could Change Royalty Sharing Structure For The Entire Music Industry
Eminem
Musicians of all types have Rapper Eminem to thank for one of the biggest news items to hit and possibly cause a ripple effect on the entire music industry since the dawn of ITunes back in 2001. This is because of the recent settlement between Eminem’s long time associated production company FBT Productions and his record label group Universal Music Group. The settlement was based on how digital royalties from Eminem’s music catalog were divvied amongst the various partners involved with creating, producing, manufacturing, and distributing Eminem’s music. In short F.B.T. Productions claimed that the digitally based music being sold through ITunes and other stand out digital retailers was and is in fact being a licensed for purchase and not bought by the company, like in the case of hard copy selling retailers. Therefore F.B. T. claimed that because of the low cost of digital distribution , Universal was unfairly making a higher percentage than actually deserved because of how the practicalities of digital distribution in the record industry differs from the traditional hard copy sales structure that most major record company deals of prior eras were formed.
Therefore, this precedence has likely changed the margins in which major label’s and their musicians are going to be expected to split their digitally acquired profits. When news first broke about F.B.T. Productions’ law suit against Universal Music Group, they were estimated acquire damages worth between $40-50 million. To further explain the significance of this suit, we found this very informative audio news brief by Queena Kim and Marketplace.org. Take a listen below. We’re betting that you’ll find it interesting. Enjoy
Marketplace.org Podcast
“Eminem Case Settles Digital Dispute”
Queena Kim
