Limp Bizkit, Fred Durst, and Flawless Data—the document label solely owned by Durst—are suing Common Music Group (UMG) for over $200 million that they declare they’re owed in unpaid royalties, based on a lawsuit seen by Pitchfork. Filed within the U.S. District Courtroom for the Central District of California, the lawsuit states that, since Limp Bizkit’s latest resurgence in recognition, the band and label haven’t been paid any of the music streaming royalties that they’re owed for almost half a billion streams.
Durst seeks to void all contracts with UMG on behalf of Limp Bizkit and Flawless Data. Collectively, all three are suing for breach of contract, fraudulent concealment, and copyright infringement, amongst different points. Pitchfork has contacted representatives for Limp Bizkit and Common Music Group for remark.
As outlined within the lawsuit, Limp Bizkit’s property have seen a gentle progress of 30-40% with every year since 2017—regardless of, as they be aware, the truth that the band hasn’t launched any new music—and surged to roughly 68% prior to now 12 months alone. “Regardless of this super ‘come again,’ the band had nonetheless not been paid a single cent by UMG in any royalties till taking motion in opposition to UMG,” reads the lawsuit. “Not solely did UMG by no means have any intention of paying Plaintiffs, it designed and applied royalty software program and methods that have been intentionally designed to hide artists’ (together with Plaintiffs’) royalties and hold these earnings for itself. On data and perception, Plaintiffs’ discovery of UMG’s design flaw in its royalty software program is systemic and impacts not solely Plaintiffs however probably tons of of different artists who’ve unfairly had their royalties wrongfully withheld for years.”
After hiring new authorized illustration, in April 2024, Durst defined that Limp Bizkit hadn’t been receiving cash for his or her royalties as a result of UMG claimed it was withheld to recoup roughly $43 million that the corporate spent on the band through the years. Durst didn’t elevate suspicion till the previous proprietor of Flip Data—the label that signed Limp Bizkit, in 1996, earlier than Interscope signed a brand new cope with them in 2000—knowledgeable him that Flip Data had acquired “tens of millions of {dollars}” from the band’s property in recent times by UMG.
“In reviewing the paperwork Plaintiffs had entry to, they found that UMG had not offered an in depth accounting of its alleged recoupment prices, had claimed recoupment prices for an awfully very long time, and had did not challenge any royalty statements in any respect for sure intervals, together with these throughout which Limp Bizkit was promoting tens of millions of albums,” reads the lawsuit. Notably, it claims that UMG did not challenge royalty statements from 1997 to 2004—the peak of Limp Bizkit’s fame when it comes to document gross sales, radio play, and extra.
UMG statements confirmed that Limp Bizkit’s 2005 album, Biggest Hitz, didn’t generate “any optimistic royalties payable to the band” as a result of unrecouped losses as just lately as the tip of 2022. Moreover, the lawsuit claims that UMG failed to supply royalty statements for Limp Bizkit’s fourth album, in addition to their music movies using the Grasp Recordings throughout “vital intervals of time.”
