Limp Bizkit sue Universal Music for $200million over unpaid royalties

Limp Bizkit and frontman Fred Durst have filed a lawsuit against Universal Music for $200million (£152.7m), alleging that the band “never received any royalties” until recently.

According to Billboard, the lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles federal court yesterday (Tuesday October 8).

In it, attorneys for Durst and the rap-rock group claimed that Limp Bizkit and “possibly hundreds of other artists” have “unfairly had their royalties wrongfully withheld for years” under a “fraudulent” system created by Universal Music.

They alleged that this policy was “deliberately designed” by UMG to hide royalties from acts so that the company could “keep those profits for itself”.

The Limp Bizkit vocalist claimed that the group had “never received any royalties from UMG”, until this August – despite having sold millions of albums and still earning “millions of streaming users per month on Spotify alone”.

“Despite this tremendous ‘come back,’ the band had still not been paid a single cent by UMG in any royalties until taking action against UMG, leading one to ask how on earth that could possibly be true,” Durst’s lawyers wrote.

As for the alleged fraudulent policy, they said: “UMG’s creation of such a system, while holding itself out as a company that prides itself on investing in and protecting its artists, makes plaintiffs’ discovery of UMG’s scheme all the more appalling and unsettling.

“Durst explained that he had been informed by UMG that he had not received any royalty statements because UMG told him over the years that it was not required to provide them since his account was still so far from recoupment. Durst’s representatives, suspicious that UMG was wrongfully claiming Plaintiffs’ accounts were unrecouped, suggested investigating further.”

Durst’s lawyers questioned “UMG’s accounting and payment practices”, and claimed to have discovered that Limp Bizkit’s accounts held more than $1million (£765,500). However, they alleged that the label “failed to alert” the band about the funds.

The suit added: “UMG’s failure to issue royalty statements in particular from 1997-2004 – the height of the band’s fame and during periods in which they made record-breaking sales – with respect to its most popular albums suggests that UMG was intentionally concealing the true amount of sales, and therefore royalties, due and owing to Limp Bizkit in order to unfairly keep those profits for itself.”

Durst’s legal representatives called the suggestion that Limp Bizkit’s studio albums were still unrecouped “highly suspect”, pointing to the group’s huge commercial success during their early career.

“Given that Limp Bizkit’s first three albums had already sold several million copies by the early ’00s, the recording funds and costs should have been quickly recouped, and UMG should have started paying royalties on those albums right away – not over twenty years later,” the suit read.

Additionally, the lawsuit alleged that “fraudulent accounting practices” had been implemented by Universal Music to keep the band in the red and avoid paying royalties. They claimed that a sum of $199,676 had been charged to Limp Bizkit’s account.

“It seems to have come out of thin air to overdraft Limp Bizkit’s due and payable account in order to defraud Limp Bizkit and show an unrecouped account,” the lawyers wrote.

UMG responded to this by claiming that Limp Bizkit had been paid $43million in recoupable advances over the years. The label explained that this is why the royalties had not begun entering the accounts until recently.

According to Durst’s attorneys, UMG eventually released $1.03million to the band, and $2.3million to Durst’s label Flawless Records. However, they claim that they are owed a much higher sum.

The lawsuit read: “Given the vast amounts of money collected by UMG in relation to sales of Limp Bizkit’s and Flawless Records’ albums over the years … UMG is liable to plaintiffs for tens of millions of dollars in copyright infringement, if not more.

“Indeed, Plaintiffs allege that the amounts owed to them by UMG following the rescission of these agreements will easily surpass $200million.”

In addition to the allegedly unpaid royalties, the lawsuit is seeking to void Limp Bizkit’s contract with Universal Music and give the band back the copyrights to their recorded catalogue. The lawyers are also seeking copyright infringement damages.

UMG has not yet responded further to the lawsuit.

Limp Bizkit wrapped up their 2024 North American ‘Loserville’ tour in August. During a show in Ridgefield, Washington that month, Durst and co. performed their track ‘Clunk’ live for the first time in 14 years.

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