Simon Fuller, creator of the ‘American Idol’ franchise has filed a $10 million lawsuit against Sony Music, which was the franchise’s initial record industry partner. According to reports, the lawsuit has been filed by music company- 19 Entertainment, which alleges that the label has cheated past Idol winners of royalties amounting to approximately $10 million and adding a lot of deductions.
Originally founded by Fuller, 19 Entertainment claims it came upon the royalty issue while conducting two audits of royalty payments on Sony’s records. However, the company did state that it still has to completely review the incomes on all recordings that it has stake in, since Sony has allegedly refused to grant access to those files.
19 Entertainment said that it attempted to strike a deal with the label company; however, Sony was not ready to negotiate. Worldwide head of Music for 19 Entertainment- Jason Morey said, “We did not want to have to file this lawsuit, but Sony left us no choice, so this became necessary to protect our artists. Our complaint lays out the claims in great detail. Everything we have to say about the case is set forth in it”.
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The issue on royalties, raised by 19 Entertainment are common disagreements on how much artists should get from streaming income. But what makes this case bigger, is that instead of an individual artist making the claim it has been made by a high profile entertainment company. Reports state that the legal action was intended to protect the rights of Idol’s previous contestants including Kelly Clarkson, Chris Daughtry, Carrie Underwood, Jordan Sparks and Clay Aiken.
19 Entertainment is currently owned by Core Media Group. In 2010, the ‘Idol’ franchise changed its label partner from Sony to Universal.
