Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst is suing Universal Music Group (UMG) for $200 million for allegedly unpaid royalties.
According to a report by Bloomberg, Durst filed the lawsuit against UMG in a federal court in California on Tuesday, October 8 for allegedly unpaid royalties and asking for a void of Limp Bizkit's contract. The lawsuit also seeks compensation for artists that worked with UMG through Durst's own Flawless Records, as well as asks for the copyrights of all works by Flawless Records artists to be released from UMG to Durst.
The lawsuit claims that Durst never received royalties from UMG, only advances prior to recording the albums. Durst further claims that UMG promised royalties once those advances were recouped, which never happened. Bloomberg further notes that UMG allegedly told Durst's representatives they had spent $43 million on Limp Bizkit's music, and that Durst never received royalty statements because UMG was "not required to provide them since his account was still so far from recoupment."
"Durst explained that he had been informed by UMG that he had not received any royalty statements because UMG told him over the years that it was not required to provide them since his account was still so far from recoupment," wrote Durst's lawyers as reported by Billboard. "Durst's representatives, suspicious that UMG was wrongfully claiming Plaintiffs' accounts were unrecouped, suggested investigating further."
The lawsuit then states Durst's representatives learned Limp Bizkit's accounts had more than $1 million in unpaid royalties, which UMG claimed was a technical error.
The lawsuit reads, in part: "UMG's failure to issue royalty statements in particular from 1997-2004 — the height of the band's fame and during periods in which they made record-breaking sales — with respect to its most popular albums suggests that UMG was intentionally concealing the true amount of sales, and therefore royalties, due and owing to Limp Bizkit in order to unfairly keep those profits for itself."
UMG has not offered a comment on the lawsuit yet.
