Metal Anarchy

There has been a new development in Limp Bizkit’s ongoing lawsuit against Universal Music Group. According to The PRP, the copyright infringement claims in the case will now be allowed to move forward.

Frontman Fred Durst previously said the label owed the band over $200 million in unpaid royalties. He also accused them of using a “systemic” and “fraudulent” policy that was “deliberately designed” to hide royalties from artists.

Durst also claimed Limp Bizkit “never received any royalties from UMG” despite their success and millions of record sales. This extends to their ongoing resurgence in popularity.

Durst’s representatives eventually contacted UMG and discovered that Limp Bizkit had $1 million in royalties, but the label “failed to alert” them. This raised more red flags about “UMG’s accounting and payment practices.” Upon further investigation, they also found out that “UMG failed to issue any royalty statements for a number of accounting periods.”

For their part, UMG claimed the band were paid $43 million in recoupable advances, which is why it took so long to see money coming into their accounts. The label have since released $1.03 million to the band and $2.3 million to Durst’s Flawless Records, but the group still believed more money was owed. Despite this, Judge Percy Anderson initially denied the request to have their contract voided. He said the following at the time of that ruling:

“The Court therefore concludes that Plaintiffs have not plausibly alleged the type of “substantial” or “total failure” in the performance of the contracts that could support rescission of the parties’ agreements.”

Since the copyright infringement and declaratory relief claims were tied to the rescission claim, they were struck down as well. However, a new ruling is allowing the copyright infringement claims to move forward.

An article from The PRP said the following about the latest development:

“A federal judge has newly ruled yesterday, March 17th, that the copyright infringement claims can remain in play after determining that a state court was the wrong forum for some of Durst‘s claims. As such, the court has now denied UMG‘s motion to dismiss challenging the sufficiency of the copyright claims, instead opting to allow them proceed in a federal court.

Additionally, several of the other claims leveled against UMG were determined to be properly suited to proceed in state court, meaning those claims will need to be refiled, which Durst‘s legal team have indicated they fully intend to do.”