Black Sheep’s lawsuit against Universal over unpaid Spotify royalties dismissed

A $750 million (£600 million) lawsuit filed by hip-hop duo Black Sheep against Universal Music Group over unpaid Spotify royalties has been dismissed. 

In January, it was confirmed that the duo had sued Universal Music Group (UMG) in a class action lawsuit. They were claiming that UMG owed them and other artists the sum in unpaid royalties. 

The plaintiffs claimed they were due the royalties because UMG allegedly agreed to accept lower royalty rates from Spotify in exchange for shares in the streaming service back in 2008.  

However, on Monday (November 20), United States District Judge Jennifer Rochon declared that Black Sheep had exceeded the statute of limitations and the suit was deemed to be time barred. 

The judge went on to reject the duo’s argument that UMG was in breach of contract and the case was closed. 

Due to a clause in their contracts pertaining to “net receipts”, Black Sheep argued that they and other Universal artists should have been paid 50 per cent of royalties from Spotify. Indeed, they said they should have also received 5 per cent of UMG’s Spotify equity (or the value of it) because, according to the duo’s suit, this would be “proportional” to their royalty contract. 

The lawsuit continued that UMG’s deal with Spotify violated the duo’s 1990 contract with Universal imprint Polygram. 

In response at the time, UMG said that the claim was “patently false and absurd”, saying that they had “a well-established track record of fighting for artist compensation.” 

New York hip-hop duo Black Sheep were part of the Native Tongues collective in the early 1990s that also included A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul. 

The duo, made up of Andres ‘Dres’ Vargas Titus and William ‘Mista Lawnge’ McLean, released two studio albums – 1991’s ‘A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing’ and 1994’s ‘Non-Fiction’ – before disbanding. After reforming in 2006, they released a further two albums. 

They scored two UK Top 20 singes, with 1994’s ‘Without a Doubt’ and 1995’s ‘North, South, East, West’. 

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