Black Sheep’s lawsuit against Universal over unpaid Spotify royalties dismissed

nme.com:

Universal Music Group over unpaid Spotify royalties has been dismissed. In January, it was confirmed that the duo had sued Universal Music Group (UMG) in a class action lawsuit.

They were claiming that UMG owed them and other artists the sum in unpaid royalties. The plaintiffs claimed they were due the royalties because UMG allegedly agreed to accept lower royalty rates from Spotify in exchange for shares in the streaming service back in 2008.

However, on Monday (November 20), United States District Judge Jennifer Rochon declared that Black Sheep had exceeded the statute of limitations and the suit was deemed to be time barred.

The judge went on to reject the duo’s argument that UMG was in breach of contract and the case was closed. Due to a clause in their contracts pertaining to “net receipts”, Black Sheep argued that they and other Universal artists should have been paid 50 per cent of royalties from Spotify.