Nu metal luminaries Limp Bizkit are suing Universal Music Group (UMG) for $200 million in royalties that the band claims it is owed thanks to an alleged flaw in the music giant’s accounting system.
The lawsuit accuses UMG of fraud, a breach of fiduciary duty, and a breach of contract. It also alleges that Universal’s software was intentionally designed to prevent artists from being paid the proper amount of royalties. If this turns out to be true, it could potentially affect hundreds of other artists.
Videos by VICE
Limp Bizkit was incredibly popular in the late 90s and early 2000s and has seen a massive resurgence in the streaming era. Their music has been streamed over 450 million times this year on Spotify alone. It was that resurgence in popularity that led Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst to wonder why the band hadn’t apparently received any royalties whatsoever from UMG.
The Hollywood Reporter spoke to an agent for UMG, who said that Limp Bizkit was paid roughly $43 million in advances over the years. The band wasn’t supposed to receive any royalty checks until the advance was paid back—but it was paid back, thanks to all the royalties Limp Bizkit was making on Spotify. The software never switched to paying the band, though. The band says this error was “fraudulent.” Durst claims that by the time they discovered it, they were owed over $1 million in back royalties.
UMG says such mistakes were one-off errors and has since paid the $1 million it owed. Nevertheless, the band is demanding an immediate jury trial.
The Guardian spoke with a former UMG executive named Jay Gilbert who says that while the lawsuit is huge and could have massive ramifications across the entire music industry, he ultimately believes the entire issue is more an accounting problem than a nefarious scheme to screw artists. “It sounded pretty damning and pretty heavy-handed, but in my experience, I think it’s something less dramatic,” he said.
