Tom Petty estate, Soundgarden among those suing record label

Soundgarden and estates representing Tupac Shakur and Tom Petty are among those suing Universal Music Group for materials lost in a 2008 fire.

In a suit filed this week in federal district court in Los Angeles, the artists allege that Universal failed to protect music ruined in the fire and to inform them of the full extent of the fire’s impact, recently revealed by The New York Times.


Besides music by Petty and Shakur, the fire is believed to have destroyed master tapes and other recordings by Ella Fitzgerald and Chuck Berry, among others. The plaintiffs, who also include Steve Earle and the band Hole, are seeking compensatory damages in excess of $100 million.

A Universal spokesman declined to comment on Saturday, June 22. HM/JB

Associated Press

Taylor Swift leaves lifelong label, signs with Universal Music Group

Taylor Swift announced on Monday that she is leaving her lifelong label, Big Machine Label Group (BMLG) to sign with the Universal Music Group (UMG) and Republic Records.

Swift announced the news in an Instagram photo with UMG Chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge and Republic Records CEO Monte Lipman.

“It’s so thrilling to me that they, and the UMG team, will be my label family moving forward. It’s also incredibly exciting to know that I’ll own all of my master recordings that I make from now on,” she wrote.

As part of her new contract, the 28-year-old singer-songwriter asked that “any sale of Spotify shares result in a distribution of money to their artists, non-recoupable.”

She said they have “generously agreed” to this, “at what they believe will be much better terms than paid out previously by other major labels.”

Swift noted this as a sign “that we are headed towards positive change for creators — a  goal I’m never going to stop trying to help achieve, in whatever ways I can.”

Swift also thanked Scott Borchetta, founder of BMLG, “for believing in me as a 14-year-old and for guiding me through over a decade of work that I will always be proud of.”

BMLG has been Swift’s label home since 2006. Her contract with them expired on the first anniversary of her sixth album “Reputation” last November 10.

UMG will now serve as Swift’s exclusive worldwide recorded music partner while UMG’s Republic Records will serve as her label partner in the United States.  /muf

source: entertainment.inquirer.net