R&B group, Sister Sledge, known for their disco-era anthem, ‘We Are Family’, has taken the fight for the revenue from their digital sales to court. They’ve joined songwriter Ronee Blakley in a suit against Warner Music Group, claiming they are owed millions in unpaid royalties.
The lawsuit states that the artists have lost substantial revenue because of calculations that have been based on sales as opposed to licensing.
The stars’ complaint states, “Rather than paying its recording artists and producers the percentage of net receipts it received — and continues to receive — from digital content providers for ‘licenses,’ Warner wrongfully treats each digital download as a ‘sale’ of a physical phonorecord … which are governed by much lower royalty provisions than ‘licenses’ in Warner’s standard recording agreements
Eminem won a 2010 appeals court decision entitling copyright holders to half the revenue from digital sales, establishing the legal precedent on which this case is based.
