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Cheap Trick, Allmans Sue Sony For Download Royalties
April 28, 2006 at 3:20 PM (PT)
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SONY MUSIC is being sued by CHEAP TRICK and THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND for royalties the bands claim are due them for Internet legal download sales.
The suit, which the plaintiffs are seeking to make a class action on behalf of all artists signed by SONY or its predecessor labels between 1962 and 2002, was filed in MANHATTAN federal court and claims that a contract requires the label to pay half of the net revenue it gets from legal downloads to the artists. The plaintiffs allege that SONY has been paying less using the formula from older contracts that deducts costs of manufacturing and distribution of tangible media like records and CDs; with SONY getting about 70 cents from each 99 cent download, the bands say they should be getting about 30 cents rather than the 4 1/2 cents SONY is paying.

